BX 7232 
.P8 
1913 



ONGREGATIONALISTS 

WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT 
THEY DO * * * PRUDDEN 






Book f * iq . 

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CONGREGATION ALISTS 

WHO THEY ARE 
WHAT THEY DO 



BOOKS ON CONGREGATIONALISM 

THE PILGRIM FAITH 

By Ozora S. Davis. Provides a timely account of Congregational 
history and ideals. And while based on thorough research it is pre- 
sented in form suited to the general public. It is admirably adapted 
for the use of classes of young people. Price, $1.00 net. 

CONGREGATIONALISM 

By Charles E. Jefferson, D.D. A spirited summary of what Con- 
gregationalism has stood for ever since its inception in Puritanism 
to its achievement of the present day. Bound in boards. Price, 
25 cents net. 

THE PILGRIMS 

By Frederick A. Noble, D.D. The account of the Pilgrims is car- 
ried on from the rise of the body in England till the Plymouth 
Colony was merged in the Bay Colony and aided in making the 
splendid Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 500 pages, 6 full-page 
half-tones. Size, 6i X 9J inches. Price, $2.50 net. 

CONGREGATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 

By Professor Charles S. Nash. Professor Nash discusses such ques- 
tions as our need of evolving efficient denominational machinery, 
ministerial leadership, forms of local fellowship, state unification, 
national unity, and congregational church union. About 200 pages. 
Price, 50 cents net 

THE NEW CONGREGATIONAL MANUAL 

By Rev. William E. Barton, D.D. Bound in flexible leather. 
$1.00 net. 

DEMOCRACY IN THE CHURCH 

By Edgar L. Heermance. A fresh and vigorous putting of the 
question of church unity. Price, $1.25 net, postage 12 cents. 

CONGREGATIONAL FAITH AND PRACTICE 

By Asher Anderson, D.D. Very brief statement of history, prin- 
ciples, and work of Congregationalism. Suitable for pastors to 
give to persons uniting with the church. 5 cents each, 30 for $1.00. 

THE COUNCIL MANUAL 

A brief presentation of the Congregational platform as defined by 
the National Council. Gives forms for letters missive, etc. 10 
cents, postpaid, 25 copies for $1.50, by express. 

THE PILGRIM PRESS 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

WHO THEY ARE 

AND 

WHAT THEY DO 



BY 

THEODORE P. PRUDDEN 




BOSTON 
THE PILGRIM PRESS 

NEW YORK CHICAGO 

1913 



^ 



• 






COPYRIGHT, 1913 

Y THE CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY 



PLIMPTON- PRESS 
'OOD-MASS-U-S-A 



THE history of Congregational churches is so hon- 
orable and interesting, their influence has been so 
extensive, and is so connected with our national de- 
velopment and institutions, that the important facts 
about them should be more generally known by all 
Congregationalists. 

Such facts I have endeavored to set forth in a 
compact form for the information of both old and 
young, who do not read larger works, that they may 
perceive the heroic origin, the principles, the ideals, 
the spirit, and the notable achievements of Congrega- 
tional churches, and also the work which they are now 
doing. In preparing this statement of facts, I am 
chiefly indebted to Walker's History of the Congre- 
gational Churches in the United States in The American 
Church History Series, Vol. III., Dunning's Congrega- 
tionalists in America^ and Clark's Leavening the Nation. 
I have also gleaned valuable information from The 
Congregationalists by Leonard Woolsey Bacon, The Be- 
ginnings of New England by John Fiske, The Genesis 
of the New England Churches by Leonard Bacon, His- 
tory of New England by Palfrey, The England and 
Holland of the Pilgrims by Morton Dexter, and other 
books referred to in the notes. 

THEODORE P. PRUDDEN. 

Brookline, Mass., June, 1913. 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT 
THEY DO 



Who are Congregationalists? 

They are a Protestant Christian denomination 
whose churches are chiefly in the United States 
and Great Britain, but many are in Australia, 
Canada, and foreign missionary fields. 

Why are they called Congregationalists? 

They are so called because the supreme author- 
ity is not in the officers, or in any body outside 
of itself, but in the people (or congregation) com- 
posing a local church. 1 

What is the Congregational idea of a church? 

It is that a company of Christians covenanting 
together for religious worship and work is a com- 
plete and self-governing church, which is (1) re- 
sponsible only to Christ, and entirely independent ; 
but it also (2) recognizes and honors the princi- 
ple of fellowship, and exercises its independence 

1 When the term "Congregational" came into general use is 
uncertain ; Rev. John Cotton entitled a treatise, issued in 1648, 
"Way of the Congregational churches cleared"; since no other 
churches existed for nearly a century in New England, Congrega- 
tional churches were frequently described as " The New England 
Churches. " 

1 [ 1 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



in a spirit of fraternal regard for the welfare, 
approval, advice, and common interests of the 
whole brotherhood of churches. It is therefore 
different from the Presbyterian, Methodist, Epis- 
copal, or Roman Catholic churches, in which each 
local congregation is part of one great organiza- 
tion, and subject to some authority outside of itself. 

Are churches of any other denomination congrega- 
tional in form? 

Yes, the Baptist, the Plymouth Brethren, the 
Christian, the Disciples of Christ, the Unitarians, 
and some others — in all nearly thirty-eight per 
cent of the congregations in the United States. 
There are about ten times as many religious organ- 
izations congregationally governed as there are 
Congregational churches. 1 

How are they different from Congregational 
churches? 

They differ frequently in some special doctrine 
which is emphasized in their name, as the Baptists 2 
and Unitarians. 

Why is it inaccurate to speak of the whole de- 
nomination as the Congregational Church of the 
United States? 

It is inaccurate because each local Congrega- 
tional church is complete in itself, and to speak 

1 Any self-governing and independent church is in fact a Con- 
gregational church ; it becomes a part of the Congregational 
denomination when it comes into fellowship with other Congre- 
gational churches. 

2 Henry Ward Beech er once called the Baptists " Wet Con- 
gregationalists " and the Congregationalists " Dry Baptists." 

[ « ] 



CONGREGATIONALXSTS 

as if it were not, or as if the whole company of 
local churches made one church, is to ignore or 
deny one of its fundamental principles. Many 
people, however, use the word " church " to de- 
scribe a denomination. 

What binds the Congregational churches into a 
denomination? 

They are bound together by fellowship and 
mutual interests, 1 and while exercising no author- 
ity over each other, they exchange and defer to 
fraternal counsel, work together for common ends, 
unite in district conferences and associations, State 
bodies, and a National Council. 

What are the theological views of Congregation- 
alists? 

There is no distinctive Congregational theology, 
and excepting their views about the nature and 
government of a church, they have not materially 
differed from other bodies of evangelical Chris- 
tians. Until recent years their doctrines have been 
in general Calvinistic, and in harmony with the 
Westminster Assembly and the Church of England. 
Each Congregational church, however, can deter- 
mine its own creed, and such churches, while sur- 
passed by none in their exaltation of Christ and 
reverence for the Bible, have never been bound by 
an authoritative system of theology, but have con- 
stantly expected " more light," 2 and changed their 

1 This tie has sometimes been derisively called "a rope of 
sand." 

2 "lam confident the Lord hath more light yet to break forth 
from his Holy Word." — John Robinson's Farewell Address. 

[ 3 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

theological beliefs as they saw new aspects of 
truth. 

What is the attitude of Congregational churches 
toward other churches? 

They recognize the churchly character of organi- 
zations otherwise governed, and so far as possible, 
hold fellowship with all Christians. 

What are some marked characteristics of Congre- 
gational churches? 

They are a democratic spirit ; simplicity in wor- 
ship ; high standards of membership ; freedom of 
thought ; a progressive theology ; strong fellow- 
ship with a minimum of sectarianism ; zeal for 
education; great missionary activity. 



II 

Where and when did Congregational churches 
originate? 

They originated in England late in the sixteenth 
century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
chiefly in London and the eastern counties, where 
the Reformation had been most welcomed and the 
University of Cambridge was most influential. 1 

Who were the first Congregationalists? 

They were a branch of the Puritans, 2 all of 
whom desired greater simplicity and freedom in 

1 See The Beginnings of New England, pp. 62-66. 
5 The Puritans desired " not liberty to withdraw from that 
National Church and to organize what would now be called a dis- 

[ * ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

worship, a purer church-membership, and more de- 
vout and educated ministers than they found in 
the Established Church, but the Congregationalists 
differed from the majority of Puritans in separat- 
ing from the Church of England " without tary- 
ing for anie." Hence they (as well as others 
who were not Congregationalists) were called 
" Separatists " and " Independents." 

How did early Congregationalists differ from the 
Church of England? 

The Church of England was a State church, 1 of 
which the king was the head, 2 and any other church, 
or any gathering for worship, not in its buildings, 
or not using its forms, or not led by its clergymen, 
was illegal. The Congregationalists claimed, and 
exercised, the right to govern themselves, and wor- 
ship when and where and as their own consciences, 
instead of the king or queen, dictated. 

On what ground did early Congregationalists jus- 
tify their separation from the National Church? 

They justified it on the ground (1) that their 
churches were in harmony with the teachings of 

tinct ' denomination ' ; nor was it merely liberty in the National 
Church to worship according to their own idea of Christian sim- 
plicity and purity," but it was "reformation of the National 
Church itself by national authority. " — Genesis of the New England 
Churches, p. 67. 

1 For one thousand years the people had been taught that the 
church was a national body, in which uniformity of creed and 
worship was " maintained by the State, and binding on all its citi- 
zens as members of a State church. " 

2 The translation of the Bible made in 1611 is called "The 
Authorized Version " because it was authorized by King James I 
as head of the Church. 

[ 5 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



Christ, and the example of the apostles and other 
early Christians ; (2) that each apostolic church 
was composed of believers in Christ who united to- 
gether voluntarily and controlled their own affairs, 
but were in fellowship with each other ; (3) that 
the rightful authority of the national government 
did not extend to the manner in which men should 
worship God. 1 

When and where were the first Congregational 
churches formed? 

There are traces of what may have been a Con- 
gregational church in London as early as 1567, but 
the earliest of which we know definitely are one in 
Norwich in 1580, and one in London in 1587 ; both 
of these were persecuted, their members imprisoned 
or driven out of England, 2 and the latter furnished 
three martyrs. 

Who was the earliest Congregational leader? 

He was Robert Browne, who was a graduate of 
Cambridge, a relative of Lord Burleigh, a popular 

1 The Congregationalists held the then revolutionary ideas that 
only Christian believers constituted a church ; that the ultimate 
law for it and all religious life was the Bible ; that magistrates had 
no right to interfere ; that God alone and not the civil ruler ap- 
points what the Christian is to believe and practise in all spiritual 
concerns ; that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head of the 
Church ; that its officers are to be chosen by the congregation to 
whom they minister, who shall also administer admonition and 
excommunication. — A History of the Congregational Churches in 
the United States, pp. 11, 12. 

See also Congregationalists in America, pp. 59-61. 

2 All the other Congregational churches were broken up and 
their members forced to conform to the Church of England or 
become exiles. 

[ 6 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

preacher and clergyman of the Church of England. 
He gathered a church, thought to be Congrega- 
tional, at Norwich, but was compelled to flee to 
Holland, where he became the first and leading 
writer on Congregational principles. His books, 1 
when introduced into England, greatly helped to 
spread Congregational ideas. Later he retracted, 2 
was pardoned, and died as a clergyman of the 
Established Church. From his name the earliest 
Congregationalists were called " Brownists." 3 

Who were the martyrs of Congregationalism? 

They were, in 1583, John Coppin and Elias 
Thacker who had been ministers of the Church 
of England and had distributed Browne's books ; 
and in 1593 John Greenwood, a graduate of Cam- 
bridge, and a clergyman of the Established Church, 
who became teacher of the Congregational church 

1 The titles of Browne's two most important works are "A 
Treatife of reformation without tarying for anie, and of the 
wickedneffe of thofe Preachers which will not reforme till the 
Magiftrate commaunde or compell them," a strong argument for 
instant separation from the Church of England, and against the 
Puritans, who were waiting for the government to reform the 
church ; and " A Booke which sheweth the life and manners of all 
true Chriftians, and howe vnlike they are vnto Turkes and Papiftes, 
and Heathen folke, " the first systematic exposition of Congrega- 
tional principles. 

2 Dr. H. M. Dexter thinks Browne's abandonment of his Con- 
gregational views was the result of a mental breakdown due to 
disappointments and imprisonment. 

8 See The Beginnings of New England, pp. 66, 68 ; A History of 
the Congregational Churches in the United States, pp. 32-42 ; Con- 
gregationalists in America, pp. 58-61. 

Sir Walter Raleigh stated in Parliament in 1593 that " he feared 
there were 20,000 Brownists in England." 

[ ? ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



in London; Henry Barrowe, 1 a gentleman and 
courtier of high social rank, a graduate of Cam- 
bridge, a lawyer, and one of the most prolific 
Separatist authors ; John Penry, a Welsh evan- 
gelist and a graduate of Cambridge ; and William 
Denis of Thetford, Norfolk. 2 

For what crime were these men hanged? 

They were hanged for the crime of denying (or 
circulating books that denied) the queen's suprem- 
acy in religion, and for teaching and practising 
the right to worship God otherwise than according 
to the laws of the Church of England. 3 



Ill 

Who were the first Congregationalists in America? 

They were the Congregational church which 
came to Massachusetts on the " Mayflower " in 
1620. 

1 Barrowe left a legacy to aid in the emigration of the London 
church, of which over fifty of the members were imprisoned. 

2 Also twenty-five members of the church in London, after 
long confinement, mostly in Newgate, died in prison or a few days 
after release. Dexter's The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, 
pp. 209, 421. See also Genesis of the New England Churches, 
Chaps. VIII, IX ; Congregationalists in America, pp. 26-70 ; A His- 
tory of the Congregational Churches in the United States, pp. 39-50. 

8 A law of 1581 made it a capital offense to write any book 
maliciously attacking the authority of the queen, or inciting to 
rebellion. The books are described in the queen's proclamation 
of 1583 as " sundry seditious, scismaticall, and erronious printed 
Bookes and libelles, tending to the deprauing of the Ecclesiastical 
gouernment established within this Realme." 
[ 8 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What is the history of that church? 

It was largely composed of people who had been 
members of the church at Gainsborough, 1 and 
was gathered, 2 probably, by Rev. Richard Clyfton 
about 1606, and met at William Brewster's home 
in the manor-house of Scrooby 3 in Nottingham- 
shire, one hundred and forty-six miles north of 

1 The church at Gainsborough (ten miles east of Scrooby) emi- 
grated in 1606 to Amsterdam, where it, as well as the church from 
London, continued a feeble and inharmonious existence till 1701, 
when the remnant was received into the English Reformed Church 
of Amsterdam. 

The story of the attempt to establish a Congregational polity 
" is one of strength and courage, of suffering willingly undergone, 
of heroism and martyrdom. But it is a story also of weakness 
and division and failure. . . . Had Browne and Barrowe and 
Greenwood and Johnson and Penry and Ainsworth been all the 
leaders that early Congregationalism produced, the system which 
they loved would scarcely have survived them. They did a noble 
and an indispensable work ; but it was well that other workmen, 
more patient, more united, if less gifted, entered into their labors 
and reaped the harvest which they had sowed, but which they were 
not fitted to garner. " — A History of the Congregational Churches 
in the United States, pp. 54, 55. 

2 This church was organized by the members ^covenanting " to 
walke in all his wayes made known, or to be made known unto 
them, according to their best endeauours, whatsoeuer it should 
cost them, the Lord assisting them." — Bradford. 

8 The location of Scrooby was long unknown and not clearly 
established till 1854. The manor-house and manor, which both 
Queen Elizabeth and King James desired to possess, and where 
Cardinal Woolsey once spent some time, were owned by the 
Archbishops of York, and leased in 1575 to William Brewster, Sr., 
on whom devolved the duty of forwarding government despatches, 
and furnishing an inn and horses for travelers. Traces of the 
large house (demolished in 1637) are still visible, and parts of it 
have been embodied in the farmhouse still standing. The parish 
church remains as in Brewster's time ; Austerfield, whence William 
Bradford came, is about two miles north. 

[ 9 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

London. After much persecution and two vain 
attempts to escape from England (one by the port 
of Boston, and the other from Hull) this church 
succeeded in reaching Amsterdam in Holland in 
1608, but in 1609 it removed to Leyden, where it 
remained eleven years. 

What was its. condition in Leyden? 

It was a company of from two to three hundred 
voluntary exiles, under the care of Rev. John Rob- 
inson, their pastor, and William Brewster, their 
ruling elder, meeting for worship in the pastor's 
house, supporting themselves as best they could, 1 
and ever hoping that some change in the English 
government would enable them to return home. 

Why did not this church remain in Leyden? 

It did not (1) because its members were English 
people, who loved their country and its institu- 
tions and language, and would not willingly re- 
main foreigners, or have their children absorbed 
among Hollanders. (2) Because Holland afforded 
few opportunities to gain a living. (3) Because 
they feared that the church they loved, and its 
principles, would die. (4) Because America seemed 
to offer the opportunities they desired. 2 (5) Be- 
cause they wished to be useful as missionaries. 

1 Brewster opened a printing-office and taught school ; Robin- 
son accepted a professorship in the university ; Bradford learned 
the trade of a silk-dyer and studied ancient languages ; Winslow 
learned printing ; others worked at over fifty different employ- 
ments. — The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, p. 488. 

2 " The spirit of nationality was strong in them ; the spirit of 
self-government was strong in them ; and the only thing which 
could satisfy these feelings was such a migration as had not been 

[ io ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

When and how did this church leave Holland? 

The physically stronger portion, leaving their 
pastor behind with the majority, sailed from Delfs- 
haven in the " Speedwell " in July, 1620, for South- 
ampton, where a ship and friends from England 
awaited them, and, after various vicissitudes, finally 
put to sea in the " Mayflower," from Plymouth, 
England, and landed at Plymouth, 1 Massachusetts, 
December 21, 1620. 

What besides a company of pilgrims were they? 

They were (1) an organized Congregational 
church, 2 which crossed the ocean as a Congrega- 
tional church, because it was a Congregational 
church, that it might continue a Congregational 
church, and for nine years it was the only Con- 
gregational church in America, and the only church 
in New England. (2) It was a self-governing 
State, organized by a compact 3 in the cabin of 
the " Mayflower " in the same manner as the 
church had been organized by a covenant. Sena- 
tor Hoar called that compact " the most impor- 
tant political transaction that has ever taken place 
on the face of the earth." Governor Roger Wol- 
cott said, " It contained the fundamental principles 

seen since ancient times, a migration like that of Phokaians to 
Massilia or Tyrians to Carthage. " — The Beginnings of New Eng- 
land, p. 74. 

1 The name " Plymouth" was given by Captain John Smith in 
1614. 

2 It was settled at Ley den " that those who went should be an 
absolute church by themselves. " 

3 This compact was signed when the " Mayflower " was an- 
chored off Cape Cod in the harbor of Provincetown. For a copy 
of the " Compact," see Appendix I. 

[ 11 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

of equal rights in a free State, equal privileges in 
a free church, and equal opportunities in a free 
school." 1 

Were the first settlers in Salem and Boston Con- 
gregationalists when they arrived? 

No, they were Puritans, who knew little about 
Congregationalists and had not been attracted to 
them, 2 but intended to establish " a state and a 
state-church such as, in their view, England and 
the Church of England ought to have been." 3 

What sort of churches did they organize? 

Though for some time they viewed themselves 
as members of the Church of England, they 
finally established Congregational churches and no 
others. 

Why did they do so? 

They did so (1) because severe sickness having 
befallen the people at Salem, the Plymouth colony 
sent to their assistance Doctor Samuel Fuller, a 
deacon of the church, who not only healed their 

1 Introduction to The Bradford History. 

2 Cotton Mather quotes Rev. Francis Higginson, the first pastor 
at Salem, as saying, when taking his last sight of England, " We 
will not say as the separatists were wont to say at their leaving of 
England, Farewel Babylon ! farewel Rome ! but we will say, fare- 
wel dear England! farewel the church of God in England, and 
all the christian friends there ! We do not go to New England 
as separatists from the church of England ; though we cannot but 
separate from the ^corruptions in it; but we go to practice the 
positive part of church reformation and propagate the gospel in 
America." — Mather's Magnolia, I, p. 328. 

8 L. W. Bacon, The Congregationalists, p. 21. 

[ 12 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

sick, and won their hearts, but, with persuasive 
skill, gave them such new and attractive ideas of 
the Plymouth church and colony as to convince 
Governor Endicott, and most of the people, that 
the Congregational form of church organization 
was Scriptural and desirable. 1 (2) Because an 
independent and self-governing church harmonized 
best with their isolated circumstances and form of 
government: (3) Because it seemed wise to Gov- 
ernor John Winthrop and his company on arriving 
at Boston to follow the precedent already estab- 
lished at Plymouth and Salem. 

What makes this important? 

It is important because it was a turning-point 
in the history of Congregational churches, where 
their future existence and their position in New 
England were determined. Had some other form 
of church been established at Salem and Boston, 
there would have been two denominations, of which 
the Congregational would have been far the 
smaller. 

What was the Puritan exodus? 

It was the immigration to New England of about 
twenty-one thousand Puritans because of persecu- 
tions under Archbishop Laud between 1628 and 

1 The Salem Church was organized by a covenant, and its 
ministers, though previously ordained in the Church of England, 
were reordained by the new church ; just as the exercises were 
concluding Governor Bradford and Dr. Fuller arrived as repre- 
sentatives of the church at Plymouth and gave the right hand of 
fellowship. See a letter from Governor Endicott to Governor 
Bradford; also the Covenant of the Salem Church, in Appendix II. 

[ 13 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



1640. It ceased when the Long Parliament secured 
the Puritan ascendancy. 1 

What kind of people were these immigrants? 

They were preeminently respectable, thrifty, and 
according to the standard of that time, well edu- 
cated ; many of them were country gentlemen ; 
ninety of them were university men, mostly from 
Cambridge. One clergyman said, in 1688, " God 
sifted a whole nation, that He might send choice 
grain into the wilderness." 2 

What churches did this large number of Puritans 
establish or join? 

Though they had not been Congregationalists 
in England, yet they established or joined Con- 
gregational churches, and until 1674, when one 
Baptist church was formed in Boston, no churches 
excepting Congregational existed in Massachusetts 
or Connecticut. 3 

What was the result? 

The result was that -in twelve years after the 
arrival of the " Mayflower " there were ten Con- 
gregational churches in New England; in twenty- 
seven years, forty-three ; in eighty years, about 
one hundred and thirty (exclusive of Indian con- 
gregations). They were legislated for by the 
General Court and sustained by town taxes;- they 
were the only churches in Massachusetts or Con- 

1 See The Beginnings of New England, Chap. II. 

2 The Beginnings of New England, pp. 141-143. 

3 " The simple fact of removal from England converted all the 
Puritan emigrants into Separatists, as Robinson had already pre- 
dicted." — The Beginnings of New England, p. 108. 

[ 14 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

necticut for more than fifty years, and well-nigh 
the only churches for one hundred years, and the 
churches of overwhelming influence till long after 
the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

What became of the early Congregational churches 
in England and Holland? 

Those in England were disbanded or went to 
Holland ; those in Holland either ceased to exist 
or emigrated to America. 

IV 

Who were the chief officers in an early Congre- 
gational church? 

The chief officers were a pastor who exhorted or 
preached, a teacher x who taught doctrine, and a 
ruling elder who managed many important affairs. 
After the first generation, the offices of pastor and 
teacher were united in one person, the office of 
ruling elder was generally abolished, and the office 
of deacon made more prominent. 

Did the Puritans come to America to establish 
religious freedom? 

They did not, excepting for themselves. 2 Free- 
dom in religion, as we conceive of it, was at that 

1 The Cambridge Platform says : " The Pastors special work is, 
to attend to exhortation : & therein to Administer a word of Wis- 
dom : the Teacher is to attend to Doctrine, & therein to Admin- 
ister a word of Knowledg : & either of them to administer the 
Seales of that Covenant [i. e., sacraments], unto the dispensation 
wherof they are alike called : as also to execute the Censures. " — 
Hist. Cong I Churches in U. S., p. 226. 

2 " The notion that they [the Puritans] came to New England 

[ 15 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



time unknown, but intolerance in Massachusetts 
was slight in comparison with that which continued 
to prevail in England, and religious liberty was 
established among the Congregationalists in, New 
England earlier than in any other part of the 
English-speaking world. 1 

Were Congregational churches approved of by 
Puritans in England? 

They were not. The English Puritans became 
Presbyterians, and during the latter part of the 
seventeenth century the two polities were defended 
and opposed in many and elaborate publications 
by leading ministers on both sides of the Atlantic. 
In England Congregationalism was called " The 

for the purpose of establishing religious liberty, in any sense in 
which we should understand such a phrase, is entirely incorrect. 
It is neither more nor less than a bit of popular legend. If we 
mean by the phrase ' religious liberty ' a state of things in which 
opposite or contradictory opinions on questions of religion shall 
exist side by side in the same community, and in which everybody 
shall decide for himself how far he will conform to the customary 
religious observances, nothing could have been further from their 
thoughts." " The religious liberty that we enjoy to-day is largely 
the consequence of their work ; but it is a consequence that was 
unforeseen." — Beginnings of N. E., pp. 145, 146. 

" Episcopacy to them meant actual and practical tyranny — the 
very thing they had crossed the ocean expressly to get away from 
— and it was hardly to be supposed that they would encourage 
the growth of it in their new home." — Beginnings of N. E., 
p. 109. 

1 Nowhere in Europe, save Holland, was freedom in worship 
possible. In England non-conformity to the Established Church 
frequently received the death penalty ; and according to an early 
code of Virginia " continued absence from daily services was 
punishable with six months in the galleys, and similar neglect 
of Sunday worship with death." — Hist. Cong'l Churches in U. S., 
p. 148. 

[ 16 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

New England way," and its subsequent growth 
was largely due to the influence and example of 
New England. 

What authority in religion did these Congrega- 
tional churches recognize? 

They recognized the authority of the word of 
God found in the Bible, " interpreted by reason x 
illumined by learning." Hence, they frequently 
revised their views. 

What was their theology? 

It was that held then by all Protestants of the 
school of Calvin and by the Church of England. 
In 1651 they set forth what is called " The 
Cambridge Platform," which approved of the 
Westminster Confession of Faith, and became the 
recognized standard for one hundred and fifty 
years ; and in 1708, the " Saybrook Platform," 
which reaffirmed the principles of Congregational- 
ism and the authority of the Bible both in doctrine 

1 "In the conviction that religious opinion must be consonant 
with reason, and that religious truth must be brought home to each 
individual by rational argument, we may find one of the chief 
causes of that peculiarly conservative yet flexible intelligence 
which has enabled the Puritan countries to take the lead in the 
civilized world of to-day." — Beginnings of N. E., p. 149. 

Even the witchcraft panic lasted in Massachusetts less than 
a year, and then was deeply deplored as a sin, a judge publicly 
confessing his mistake, although a belief in witchcraft was uni- 
versal in Europe, and held by such lawyers as Blackstone and Sir 
Matthew Hale, and the law against it was not repealed in England 
till forty-three years later. " It has been estimated that in the 
British Islands 30,000 suffered death for witchcraft; 75,000 in 
France ; 100,000 in Germany; in New England, 32." — Congrega- 
tionalists in America, p. 199. 

2 [ H ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



and polity. Until the middle of the eighteenth 
century the topics most discussed pertained rather 
to the government of churches and colonies than 
to theology. 

What was the attitude of early Congregationalists 
toward learning? 

Since they believed that both Church and State 
were to be governed by the people, they considered 
education the safeguard of religion and the civil 
government ; * and having had graduates of Eng- 
lish universities for their first pastors, they de- 
manded thoroughly trained and scholarly ministers. 
Therefore Harvard College 2 was founded in 1636 
by Congregational ministers, and took the name 
of a Congregational minister; Yale was founded 
by Congregational ministers in 1701. Boston had 
a school in 1635, Hartford in 1637, and New 
Haven before the church was organized. In 1647 
a school was ordered in every township of fifty 
families in Massachusetts, and a grammar-school 

1 See Beginnings of N. E., pp. 150, 151; also Hist. Cong'l 
Churches in U. 8., pp. 149-152. 

2 Beginnings of N. E., pp. 110, 111. 

"Mr John Harvard, a reverend, and excellent minister of 
the gospel, who dying at Charlestown, of a consumption, quickly- 
after his arrival here, bequeathed the sum of seven hundred, seventy 
nine pounds, seventeen shillings and two pence, towards the pious 
work of building a Colledge. . . The other colonies sent some small 
help to the undertaking, and several particular gentlemen did more 
than whole colonies to support and forward it ; but because the 
memorable Mr John Harvard, led the way by a generosity 
exceeding the most of them, that followed his name was justly 
seternized, by its having the name of Harvard Colledge im- 
posed upon it." — Mather's Magnalia, II, p. 7, ed. 1820. Andrus, 
Hartford. 



L 18 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

in every town of one hundred families ; and the 
same was done in Connecticut three years later. 

On what grounds can legislation in early New 
England be attributed to the influence of Con- 
gregational churches? 

It may be so attributed (1) because religion, 
cultivated in Congregational churches, was the first 
interest of early New Englanders, who also held 
that morality was necessary for the State, and 
that it must be founded on religion; (2) many 
towns had been settled by churches under the lead 
of a pastor; (3) in the Massachusetts and New 
Haven colonies only church-members could vote or 
hold office, and " the ' Great and General Court ' 
was, in a very practical sense, a church court." 1 

What influence had the early Congregational 
churches on our form of government? 

(1) Self-government in a church suggested and 
educated men for self-government in other respects, 
and the practise of liberty in worship led to civil 
liberty. (2) The idea of independent towns, ruled 
by a majority of citizens assembled in a town 
meeting, was exactly the idea of government in a 
Congregational church. (3) The Constitution of 
Connecticut, which " clearer and more fully than 
any political document hitherto formulated, recog- 
nized the foundation of authority as existing in 
the people, and the responsibility of all officers to 
them," and which largely guided the founders of 
our national government, was elaborated and set 
forth by Rev. Thomas Hooker in a sermon before 

1 L. W. Bacon, The Congregationalists, p. 53. 

[ 19 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

the General Court at Hartford in 1638. 1 " The 
idea of a ' government of the people, by the people, 
and for the people,' was conceived in Congregational 
churches ; was by them urged and developed into 
a practical scheme, and without them would never 
have been realized. The blessings of our Republic 
have come to us through Congregationalism and 
through the men who found in its faith and polity 
the principles of self-government, together with un- 
swerving loyalty to God." 2 

Did early Congregational churches attempt any 
missionary work? 

Yes, among the Indians. It was begun by 
Thomas Mayhew and his son at Martha's Vineyard 
in 1643. In 1646 two persons from each church 
were assigned to " spread the gospel among the 
Indians," and John Eliot 3 began to gather them 
into villages. Similar work was done in Connecti- 
cut. In England a society to carry it on was 
organized, and in 1661 contributed more than six 
hundred pounds. In 1674 more than four thou- 

1 " Mr. Hooker . . . maintained that ' the foundation of au- 
thority is laid in the free consent of the people,' ' that the choice 
of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allow- 
ance,' and that ' they who have power to appoint officers and 
magistrates have the right also to set the bounds and limitations of 
the power and place unto which they call them.' On the 14th of 
January, 1639, all the freemen . . . assembled at Hartford and 
adopted a written constitution in which the hand of the great 
preacher is clearly discernible. ... It was the first written con- 
stitution known to history, that created a government. " — Begin- 
nings of N. E., p. 127. 

2 A. E. Dunning, Congregationalists in America, p. 276. 

3 Eliot's first sermon to the Indians was preached in a hut on 
the banks of the Charles River near Watertown. 

[ 20 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

sand " Praying Indians " were gathered in seven 
churches. David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards 
were missionaries among them in Stockbridge. 
Though this work was interrupted by the Indian 
wars, it continued till near the middle of the eight- 
eenth century, when the Indian tribes virtually 
disappeared from New England. 1 



Who was John Robinson? 

John Robinson (1575-1625) was a graduate 
and fellow of the University of Cambridge, a 
clergyman of the English Church, and probably 
teacher of the Pilgrim Church at Scrooby. He 
was its pastor at Amsterdam and Leyden and 
nominally at Plymouth, though he died in 1625, 
before he was able to come to New England. He 
was a distinguished author, a man of great learn- 
ing, rare tolerance, and broad views, who prompted 
the Pilgrim Fathers to settle in America and en- 
encouraged them with his letters. 2 In his memory 
the National Council of Congregational Churches 
of the United States erected in 1891 a tablet on 
the exterior walls of St. Peter's Church, Leyden, 
underneath which he was buried, and opposite to 
which stood his house. 

Who was William Brewster? 

William Brewster (1560-1644) was a man of fair 
classical education, good judgment, wide knowledge 

1 See Hist. Congl Churches in U. S., pp. 164-170. 

2 Beginnings of N. E., p. 72 ; Hist. Congl Churches in U. 8., 
pp. 57, 61, 64, 71, 72 ; Genesis of the N. E. Churches, Chap. XII. 

[ 21 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

of the world, and master of the Post Station at 
Scrooby on the highroad from London to York. 
He was the ruling elder of the Pilgrim Church, 
under whose guidance it came to Plymouth, and 
its only substitute for a minister during the try- 
ing years from 1620 to 1629. He has been called 
the " most eminent person in the movement " 
that brought the Congregational church to New 
England. 1 

Who was William Bradford? 

William Bradford (1588-1657) was a member 
of the church at Scrooby, the governor of Plymouth 
Colony for thirty years and its historian, to whom 
we owe most of our information. 

1 Brewster entered St. Peter's, or Peterhouse, the oldest college 
at Cambridge, but his name is not on the list of graduates. His 
patron and friend was Davison, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of 
State, under whom he went to court, and had served on a diplo- 
matic mission to Holland, and by whom he was entrusted with the 
seal of Flushing after its surrender. He was living in the large 
and dilapidated house at Scrooby, as his father had done since 
1675, and was about forty-five years old when the Pilgrim Church 
was organized, probably at his instigation. Of all the Pilgrims, 
he had the largest experience of public life, had seen the most of 
the world, had been in closest touch with politics and statesman- 
ship, and had personally known and seen most of the glories of the 
age of Elizabeth. Mr. Edwin D. Mead says, "If we had the 
original draft of the compact signed on board the ' Mayflower,' it is 
an even chance that we should find it in his hand." The poet 
Spenser was seven years older than Brewster ; Sir Philip Sidney 
was six years older ; Sir Walter Raleigh was eight years older ; 
Shakespeare was four years younger ; Brewster was twenty-seven 
when Mary Queen of Scots was executed, and twenty-eight when 
the Spanish Armada was destroyed. See Pioneers of Religious 
Liberty in America, First Lecture. 



[ m ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

Who was John Endicott? 

John Endicott (1589-1665) was the governor 
of the colony at Salem, through whose influence a 
Congregational church was established. 

Who was John Winthrop? 

John Winthrop (1588-1649) was a wealthy 
gentleman, a graduate of Cambridge, a lawyer, 
and the first governor of Massachusetts. 

Who was Roger Williams? 

Roger Williams (1599-1683) 1 was a graduate 
of Cambridge, and pastor at Salem, but was ban- 
ished from Massachusetts for holding and pro- 
claiming extreme and illegal views of liberty before 
the people could receive them, and which the mag- 
istrates thought dangerous. He settled in Rhode 
Island, where he continued to trouble the magis- 
trates, but became a Baptist and founded the first 
Baptist church in America, from which, however, 
he withdrew within a few months. 

Who was Thomas Hooker? 

Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) was a graduate 
of Cambridge, who for twenty years had been a 
popular and influential preacher in the English 
Church. He was pastor of the first church in 
Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, from 
which he and a large proportion of its numbers 
withdrew and founded the First Church in Hart- 
ford in 1636. He was the author of many works, 
and " the father of the Connecticut Constitu- 

1 See Beginnings of N. E., p. 114. 

[ 23 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

tion," 1 which " marked the beginnings of American 
democracy." 2 

Who was John Cotton? 

John Cotton (1585-1652) was a brilliant grad- 
uate of Cambridge, who, after being rector for 
twenty years at St. Botolph's Church, Boston, " in 
the most magnificent parish church in England," 
came to Boston, Massachusetts, when he was forty- 
eight years old, and became teacher of the First 
Church. 

Who was Richard Mather? 

Richard Mather (1596-1669) was for seventeen 
years a clergyman of the Church of England, but 
emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, and became 
pastor of the church at Dorchester and a leader 
in developing the young Congregationalism of his 
time. 

Who was John Eliot? 

John Eliot (1604-1690) was a graduate of 
Cambridge, who came to Massachusetts in 1631, 
and was for fifty-seven years teacher of the church 
in Roxbury. He became proficient in the Indian 
language, into which he translated the Bible, and 
several other books, and is known as the great 
missionary and apostle to the Indians. 

Who was John Davenport? 

John Davenport (1597-1670) was a graduate 
of Oxford, and had been vicar of a church in 

1 Life of Thomas Hooker, by G. L. Walker, pp. 123-128. 

2 Beginnings of N. E., p. 127. See page 20, note 1. 

[ 24 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

London. With his friends he founded the colony 
and church at New Haven, and later became pastor 
of the First Church in Boston, thereby occasioning 
the withdrawal 1 of some of its members who organ- 
ized the third, or " Old South," Congregational 
Church. 

Who was Increase Mather? 

Increase Mather (1639-1723) was the son of 
Richard Mather ; a graduate of Harvard ; a 
preacher in England during the last days of the 
Commonwealth; pastor of the Second Church in 
Boston for fifty-nine years, during forty of which 
his son Cotton Mather was his colleague ; Presi- 
dent of Harvard College from 1685 to 1701 ; the 
envoy from Massachusetts to King James II and 
King William. Through his efforts a new charter 
was obtained, and Plymouth Colony was added to 
Massachusetts instead of to New York. He was 
the leading citizen as well as most influential min- 
ister in his colony. 

Who was Cotton Mather? 

Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was the son of 
Increase Mather, and grandson of John Cotton. 
He was graduated from Harvard in 1678, when 
fifteen years of age. In 1685 he became the col- 
league of his father and succeeded him as pastor 
of the Second Church, Boston. He was the author 
of three hundred and eighty publications, and " the 
most famous minister in New England." 

1 The withdrawal was because of Davenport's strong opposi- 
tion to the popular " Half- Way Covenant." See page 28. 

[ 25 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



VI 

When and where were the first Congregational 
churches founded in Connecticut? 

They were at Hartford, Windsor, and Wethers- 
field x in 1636; at New Haven and Milford in 
1639; at Guilford in 1643. 

What were the first Congregational churches 
founded in other New England States? 

The first in New Hampshire were at Dover 
and Exeter, in 1638. The first in Maine was at 
York, in 1673 ; in Rhode Island, at Barrington, 
in 1674 ; in Vermont, at Bennington, in 1762. 

What churches were in New England in 1700? 

It is estimated that there were 
in Massachusetts 2 (aside from Indian churches) 
84 Congregational 
2 Baptist 
1 Episcopal: 
in Connecticut 

39 Congregational: 

1 These three churches went to Connecticut from Newtown 
(now Cambridge), Dorchester, and Watertown, Massachusetts, and 
are said to have taken one fourth of the strength of the churches in 
Massachusetts. The name "Newtown" was changed to "Cam- 
bridge" after the college was established there, in honor of the 
English university. The church in Windsor is, since the Unitarian 
Separation, the oldest Congregational church in America. It was 
organized in England in 1630, came to Dorchester as a church, and 
soon removed to Windsor. Hartford, Windsor, New Haven, Mil- 
ford, and Guilford were each settled under the leadership of a Con- 
gregational minister, most of whose followers had become attached 
to him in England. 

2 Maine was a part of Massachusetts till 1820. 

[ 26 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



in New Hampshire 

4 Congregational: 
in Rhode Island 
3 Baptist 
3 Congregational: 
in all one hundred and thirty Congregational and 
six that were not (but only one which was not 
Congregationally governed). 

What were the religious services of the Congre- 
gational churches about 1700? 

They were, on Sunday morning, 

(1) A prayer " of about a quarter of an houre." 

(2) A passage from the Bible expounded by 
the teacher (reading without exposition was called 
" dumb reading," and regarded as liturgical, and 
did not become general till near the close of the 
eighteenth century). 

(3) A psalm, lined out for the congregation to 
sing. 

(4) The sermon (about an hour in length, and 
delivered from memory or with notes, though writ- 
ten sermons became " extremely fashionable " by 
1727). 1 

(5) A short prayer. 

(6) The benediction. 

A second and very similar service began at 2 p. m. 
A lecture was delivered on a week-day afternoon. 
There were no evening meetings or prayer-meet- 
ings until the nineteenth century. No musical in- 
struments 2 were used until near the middle of the 

1 An hour-glass was often placed on the pulpit to time the 
sermon. 

2 Instrumental music was thought to be forbidden in Amos 5 : 23. 

[ 27 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

eighteenth century. The marriage ceremony, which 
had previously taken place before a magistrate, 
was first performed by a minister in Massachusetts 
in 1686, and in Connecticut in 1690, and the cus- 
tom of a prayer at a funeral began in 1685. 1 

What was the condition of the Congregational 
churches at the end of the seventeenth and 
beginning of the eighteenth centuries? 

They were in a condition of religious decline, 
the people being absorbed in conflicts with the 
Indians, and perplexing questions of politics and 
the Church. 2 

What was "The Half-Way Covenant"? 

It was a nickname given by its opponents to a 
partial church-membership acquired by baptism 
and a promise to walk in fellowship and under the 
discipline of the church, but which required no re- 
ligious experience, and did not admit to the Lord's 
Supper. The right to such partial membership 
was desired for the political privileges which it 
conferred, and was claimed for the children of par- 
ents who had been baptized, but had not entered 
into full church-membership. It was, therefore, a 
lowering of previous standards, and practically 
established two grades of members. It occasioned 
vigorous controversy for more than a century and 
a half, and was adopted by a majority of the 
churches, but owing largely to the influence of 

i For other items see Hist. Congl Churches in U. S., pp. 237- 
246. 

2 See Hist. Cong'l Churches in U. S. , pp. 252, 253 ; also Con- 
gregationalists in America, Chaps. X, XI. 

[ 28 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



" The Great Awakening " it was entirely abolished 
after 1800. 1 

What was "The Great Awakening"? 

It was a revival of religion, which, beginning in 
1734 at Northampton, where Jonathan Edwards 
was pastor, extended through western Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut, and under the preaching of 
George Whitefield and others deeply moved the 
churches of New England, and continued for about 
ten years, but was followed by a wide-spread 
reaction. 2 

What were some of the results of " The Great 
Awakening "? 

They were (1) The organization of one hundred 
and fifty new Congregational churches in New 
England within twenty years, and the addition of 
many thousands to the church-membership. (2) An 
excited and prolonged theological controversy. 
(3) The founding of Princeton College. (4) The 
birth of a new and progressive New England 
theology. 3 

i See Hist. Cong'l Churches in the U. 8., pp. 160, 170-182, 
262, 283, 287 ; Congregationalists in America, Chap. IX, also pp. 
239, 240. 

2 Hist. Congl Churches in the U. S., pp. 251-266 ; also Congre- 
gationalists in America, Chaps. XII, XIII. 

On account of the great excitement which prevailed, and the 
abundant censorious remarks about the " unconverted clergy," 
etc., a large number of the ministers, and the faculty of both the 
colleges, opposed the evangelists, and a heated controversy fol- 
lowed, in which those favoring revivals were nicknamed " New 
Lights," and their opponents, "Old Lights." 

8 " The quickening of religious feeling, the deepening of religious 
conviction, the clearing and denning of theological opinions, that 

[ 29 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What was the theological controversy? 

It was a controversy which arose when people 
began to question Calvinism, and, in the light of 
Edwards' theology, to discuss such topics as " The 
Trinity," " Foreordination," " Free-will," " Origi- 
nal Sin," " Total Depravity," " Human Ability," 
" The wisdom of God in permitting sin," etc. 

Why was Princeton College founded? 

It was " founded by New England and ' New 
Light ' influence, in the interest of a more advanced 
theology and a larger ' liberty 1 of prophesying ' 
than were encouraged by the conservative ortho- 
doxy of Harvard and Yale." 2 



VII 

Who were the chief Congregational theologians 
of the eighteenth century? 

They were (1) Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), 
a graduate of Yale, a pastor at Northampton, a 
profound thinker, a powerful preacher, the author 
of thirty-six publications, a missionary among the 
Indians, and, at the time of his death, the presi- 
dent of Princeton College. He has been called by 
writers in Great Britain " The greatest of theo- 
logians," 3 " The greatest of the sons of men," 4 

were incidental to the Great Awakening, were a preparation for 
more than thirty years of intense political and warlike agitation." 
— Hiit. of American Christianity, by L. W. Bacon, p. 181. 

1 Liberty to conduct revivals after the manner of Whitefield. 

2 L. W. Bacon, The Congregationalists, p. 138. 
8 Dr. Chalmers. 

4 Robert Hall. 

[ 30 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

and " The man whose power of argument was un- 
surpassed among men " ; 1 and by American writers, 
" Our greatest seer," 2 and " Perhaps the only 
American intellect that deserves a place in the 
ranks of the world's great thinkers." 3 To defend 
Calvinism he modified it, and his views, changed 
somewhat by his pupils, were called " The New 
Divinity " and " The New England Theology," 
which influenced the religious thought of the Con- 
gregational churches and a large portion of the 
Presbyterian Church for more than a centurv. 

(2) Charles Chauncy (1705-1787), a graduate 
of Harvard (of which his grandfather had been the 
second president) and pastor of the First Church 
in Boston ; he opposed Whitefield and revivals, and 
the establishment of an Episcopal church, and be- 
came a leader among the opponents of Edwards' 
theology, who brought about " The Unitarian 
Deflection." 

(3) Joseph Bellamy (1719-1790), a graduate 
of Yale, pastor at Bethlehem, Connecticut, a pupil 
and friend of Jonathan Edwards, a brilliant 
preacher and writer, and the teacher of at least 
sixty theological students. 

(4) Samuel Hopkins (1721-1803), a graduate 
of Yale, a pupil and intimate friend of Jonathan 
Edwards, a pastor at Great Barrington, Massa- 
chusetts, and at Newport, Rhode Island, a strong 
writer and controversialist, and one of the earliest 
opponents of slavery. 

(5) Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (1745-1801), a son 
of the great Edwards, a graduate of Princeton, a 
pastor in New Haven, the developer of his father's 

1 Sir James Mackintosh. 2 Professor Egbert Smyth. 

3 Rev. George A. Gordon, D.D. 

[ 31 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

theology, the instructor of many ministers, an op- 
ponent of slavery, and president of Union College. 

(6) Nathaniel Emmons (1745-1840), a gradu- 
ate of Yale, a friend and pupil of Hopkins, a 
pastor for forty years at Franklin, Massachusetts, 
a voluminous author, the instructor of one hundred 
theological students, and " a great power in the 
religious life of New England." 

(7) Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), a grandson 
of Jonathan Edwards, a graduate of Yale, a chap- 
lain in the army, a pastor in Connecticut, a presi- 
dent of Yale, where as Professor of Divinity and 
college preacher he exerted a wide influence both 
in training ministers and in overcoming the infi- 
delity which prevailed among the students. 

VIII 

What influence had Congregational churches on 
national independence? 

They had great influence because they made the 
public sentiment of New England, where the war 
began, and whence came nearly one-half of the 
soldiers. Their history and principles were a 
constant training in independence, and their ex- 
istence as churches depended on resisting the 
government which still sought to persecute them. 
Their ministers constantly taught civil rights and 
the duty of free men to resist civil wrongs, and 
seek liberty even at the sacrifice of life. Churches 
and ministers cooperated in every revolutionary 
movement. 1 

1 See Congregationalists in America, Chap. XIV. From a meet- 
ing in the Old South Meeting House the party went forth to empty 
the tea into Boston harbor. 

[ 32 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

What churches were in New England near the 
close of the Revolutionary War? 

In all New England there were about 770 
Congregational churches. In Massachusetts there 
were 
3 Universalist 68 Baptist 

6 Quaker 1 Roman Catholic 

11 Episcopal 330 Congregational 1 

The proportion was about the same in other New 
England States, 2 excepting Rhode Island. There 
were also a few Congregational churches on Long 
Island and in eastern New York. 

What important event in the history of Congre- 
gational churches took place near the end of the 
eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth 
centuries? 

It was a series of revivals which, beginning in 
1791, spread through New England, the Middle 
States, and farther west, and continued till 1805, 
with results far more permanent than those which 
followed " The Great Awakening." 3 

What were some of the results? 

(1) Jonathan Edwards' theology became an 
abiding and powerful influence among most of the 
Congregational churches. (2) The churches hold- 
ing Unitarian views formed a new denomination. 
(3) Religious activities were stimulated and sev- 

1 Leavening the Nation, p. 25. 

2 In Massachusetts, including Maine, were 413 Congregational 
churches ; in Connecticut, 174 ; in New Hampshire, 102 ; in Ver- 
mont, 73 ; in Rhode Island, 7. 

3 See Hist. Cong'l Churches in the U. S., pp. 319-329. 

3 • [ 33 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



eral missionary societies were formed. (4) Sunday- 
schools, prayer-meetings, and evening meetings 
were introduced, and the idea became established 
that revivals were the normal and necessary method 
of cultivating religious life. 



IX 

What was the Unitarian controversy? 

It was a theological conflict among Congrega- 
tional churches chiefly in and about Boston, which 
began in the reaction after " The Great Awaken- 
ing," and continued for more than fifty years. It 
centered in opposition to the doctrine of " The 
Trinity," the nature of man, many points of the 
theology of Edwards, and at length to the use of 
all creeds and confessions. It reached its culmina- 
tion in 1815, when the Unitarian denomination was 
practically formed. 

What was the result? 

The result was great excitement and theological 
bitterness. Ministers, churches, and families were 
divided; churches and ministers withdrew fellow- 
ship from one another ; each party had its own 
periodicals and inclined to extremes. The first 
church to declare itself Unitarian was the Epis- 
copal " King's Chapel," in 1787 ; Harvard College 
became Unitarian * in 1805, and was followed by 
all the ten Congregational churches in Boston save 
the Old South, and twenty of the oldest churches 

1 This was done by the election of a pronounced Unitarian to 
the professorship of Divinity. 

[ 34 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

in Massachusetts, including the Pilgrim at Ply- 
mouth. Litigation over church property 1 inten- 
sified the division, which was not only theological 
but social, the prestige and wealth being decidedly 
in favor of the Unitarians, but the majority of 
church-members with the Congregationalists. 

Did the Unitarian churches cease to be Congre- 
gational ? 

No, they are still Congregational in government, 
and often in name, and share equally with the 
Congregationalists the honor of being descendants 
and heirs of the early churches and founders of 
New England. Both Congregationalists and Uni- 
tarians unite now in the annual meeting of 
" The Massachusetts Association of Congrega- 
tional Ministers." The Unitarian churches be- 
came a denomination not because they seceded 
from the Congregational churches, but because the 
latter withdrew fellowship from them. They did 
not generally adopt a separate name till 1825, nor 
distinctly decline to use the Congregational name 
till 1865. The denomination grew slowly, 2 and 
extended very little into western Massachusetts or 

1 The Massachusetts Supreme Court, after arguments in which 
Daniel Webster took part, decided in 1820 that " a church exists 
only in connection with a society, and in case of division in the 
church only that faction which is recognized by the society has a 
right to the name and the use of the property. " 

A committee of the Massachusetts General Association in 1836 
enumerated " 81 cases ... in which 3900 evangelical members 
withdrew, leaving property to the value of more than $600,000 
for the use of 1282 Unitarian fellow-members who remained." — 
Hist. Cong'l Churches in the U. S., p. 343. 

2 In 1815 there were 125 Unitarian churches ; in 1863, 205; in 
1905, 463, in the United States. 

[ 35 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



other parts of New England, and not at all in 
Connecticut, but was mostly confined to within fifty 
miles of Boston. 1 

What effect did the Unitarian separation have on 
the Congregational churches? 

It roused them to close fellowship and great 
activity, and caused them to attribute additional 
importance to what seemed to them correct (or 
orthodox) theology. It led to the founding of 
Andover Theological Seminary (the first Protes- 
tant seminary in the United States) in 1808, 
Park Street Church, Boston, in 1809, and one 
hundred and ninety-seven new churches in Massa- 
chusetts between 1815 and 1840. It brought about 
the use of creeds as tests for both ministers and 
church-members, and sometimes the substitution 
of them for the ancient covenant. 2 

What great work had the Congregational churches 
done before 1800? 

They had molded the people and institutions of 
New England, where dwelt 1,300,000 out of the 
5,000,000 inhabitants of the country, and ninety- 
eight per cent were of pure English ancestry, from 
whom, John Fiske 3 estimated, " have come at least 
one-fourth of the present 4 population of the United 
States." 

1 See Hist. Cong'l Churches in the U. S., pp. 329-369 ; Congrega- 
tionalists in America, Chaps. XV, XVI ; The Congregationalists, 
L. W. Bacon, Chaps. XIII-XV, XIX. 

2 As, for example, in the First Church in Hartford. 
8 Beginnings of N. E., p. 143. 

* In' 1889. 

[ 36 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



X 

What was the first home missionary movement in 
the United States? 

It was begun by the Congregational churches 
of Connecticut in response to appeals from old 
neighbors who had emigrated to northern New 
England and central New York, and as early as 
1788 a few ministers had made short missionary 
journeys into these regions. After the Revolu- 
tionary War, and before 1797, the Connecticut 
churches sent twenty-two ministers (all but three 
pastors of churches) as missionaries for four 
months to Vermont, New Hampshire, and New 
York, paying them $4.50 a week, and $4 more to 
supply their pulpits, at a total cost of $4,000. 1 

What was the first home missionary society in 
the United States? 

It was the society organized by the Congrega- 
tional churches of Connecticut in 1798, which be- 
fore 1828 had subscribed $100,000 (all of which 
was spent outside the State), had sent out nearly 
two hundred missionaries, and established four 
hundred churches in new settlements. 2 

What was the second home missionary society in 
the United States? 

It was the society organized by the Congrega- 
tional churches of Massachusetts in 1799, and was 

1 Leaveninc/ the Nation, pp. 26, 27. 

2 Leavening the Nation, pp. 28, 29, 43. 

[ 37 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

followed by a similar society in New Hampshire 
in 1801, by the Baptist Domestic Missionary So- 
ciety in 1802, and by the Congregational Mission- 
ary Societies of Vermont and Maine in 1807. 

What was the motive of the Congregational 
churches of Connecticut and Massachusetts in 
sending home missionaries? 

The motive was " love of humanity and love of 
country." It was wholly undenominational, patri- 
otic, and statesmanlike, its purpose being to extend 
Christian knowledge and influences through the 
nation, that new regions might not develop without 
churches and schools and Christian homes. 1 

Where did these early missionaries go? 

They went to New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and down the Mississippi to 
New Orleans, and before 1815 they had estab- 
lished one hundred and five churches, of which 
twenty-six were Presbyterian, in New York and 
Ohio. 2 The first Presbyterian church in St. Louis 
was founded by one of them in 1814, and because 
of the report of religious destitution in the West 
brought by another, 3 the American Bible Society 
was organized in 1816. 

1 " The happinefs of the rifing generation and the order and 
liability of civil government are moft effectually advanced by the 
diffufion of religious and moral fentiments, through the preaching 
of the gofpel." — Preamble of the Constitution of the Missionary 
Society of Connecticut. 

2 Leavening the Nation, pp. 29, 41, 42. 

8 Samuel J. Mills, leader of the " Haystack Band " at Williams 
College, to whom sometimes the beginnings of American Foreign 
Missions is attributed. 

[ 38 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



Where and when was the first Congregational 
church established in Ohio? 

It was at Marietta, where Manasseh Cutler led 
a New England colony in 1796 ; within thirty 
years ninety churches were gathered in northern 
Ohio, all by missionaries sent out and supported 
by the Congregational churches of Connecticut and 
Massachusetts. 1 

Who was Manasseh Cutler? 

He was a Congregational minister 2 from Mas- 
sachusetts, and the chief promoter of the " Ordi- 
nance of 1787," 3 by which slavery was forever 
excluded from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
and Wisconsin, and self-government was estab- 
lished in the territories, and which affirmed that 
" Religion, morality, and knowledge, being essen- 
tial to good government and the happiness of 
mankind, are to be forever encouraged." 

1 Leavening the Nation, pp. 42, 43. 

2 Cutler was " by turns a storekeeper, lawyer, clergyman, phy- 
sician, army-chaplain, an author ... a pioneer, a state legislator 
and member of Congress." . . . He declined a commission as 
Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio tendered him by Washing- 
ton, and ended his career as a Congregational minister in eastern 
Massachusetts. 

3 Leavening the Nation, pp. 47-49, 57. The region to which 
this ordinance specifically applied has for more than forty years 
been the center of our population and our manufactures. From it 
have come since 1860 six presidents of the United States, such 
leaders during the Civil War as Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Stanton, 
Chase, and one million soldiers ; here, too, the final battle between 
slavery and freedom began and was practically settled. See also 
pp. 51, 52. 



[ 39 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



Where did the region called "Out West" begin 
in 1800? 

It began a few miles west of the Hudson River. 1 

What religious denominations were found there? 

There were Congregationalists from New Eng- 
land, and Presbyterians from the Middle States. 

What was the Presbyterian Church at that time? 

It was the prevailing church in New York, New 
Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The first Presbyterian 
church had been gathered in Philadelphia in 1690, 
but the General Assembly was not organized till 
1789, when " The whole Presbyterian Church con- 
sisted of one hundred and seventy-seven ordained 
ministers, and one hundred and eleven licentiates 
(two hundred and eighty-eight in all), with four 
hundred and nineteen congregations, of which two 
hundred and four were without pastors." 2 It 
began home missionary work in 1802. 3 

What relations then existed between the Congre- 
gationalists and Presbyterians? 

The relations were very close and cordial. The 
Connecticut ministers had declared that their sys- 
tem was Presbyterian rather than Congregational, 
and many Presbyterian ministers having studied 

1 Leavening the Nation, pp. 33, 34. Outside of New England, 
the population of the remaining eleven states was about four mil- 
lion, clustered along the Atlantic, and the western boundary of 
the United States was the Mississippi River. 

2 Historical Sketch of Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, 
1802-1888. 

8 Leavening the Nation, p. 36. 

[ 40 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

with Congregational pastors, had adopted the New 
England theology. 1 



XI 

What was the " Plan of Union"? 

It was a plan by which Congregationalists and 
Presbyterians, with sincere desire to sink denomi- 
national issues, agreed to work together in home 
missionary fields, and did work from 1801 to 1852. 

What were the reasons for such union? 

They were (1) that in worship, spirit, and to a 
great extent in ancestry and theology, the two de- 
nominations were similar. (2) That in new com- 
munities but one house of worship and one pastor 
would be needed. (3) That such a union would 
prevent schism. (4) It was thought that a uni- 
form system of church government for both could 
be easily arranged. 

What was the plan? 

It was that a Presbyterian church might be 
served by a Congregational minister, or a Con- 
gregational church by a Presbyterian minister, and 
each minister and each church should be governed 
by the principles of his or its denomination. 

1 An annual joint convention of representatives of the Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia, and the General Associations of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, met from 1766-1775. After 1794 
delegates from the Presbyterian General Assembly, and the Gen- 
eral Associations of both Massachusetts and Connecticut, attended 
the meetings of the other body, and had power to vote, till the 
rupture with the Presbyterians in 1837. — Hist. Cong'l Churches in 
the U. &,pp. 315,316. 

[ 41 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What may be said of this plan? 

It was fair; it left each community to manage 
its own concerns ; it was wholly unselfish, and to 
carry it out both pastors and people sacrificed 
" personal preferences and cherished usages and 
traditions, to the interests of the kingdom of 
heaven." * 

What great misconceptions prevailed among the 
Congregationalists of New England? 

They had no conception of the future develop- 
ment of the country, and viewed the territory west 
of the Hudson as if it would remain a sparsely 
settled frontier. They held the delusion that Con- 
gregational churches belonged exclusively to New 
England and would not flourish elsewhere, and 
that the Presbyterian Church was not congenial to 
New England, but was especially adapted to new 
communities. Therefore, Congregational pastors 
advised their people moving west to become Pres- 
byterians ; students in theological seminaries were 
taught that " Congregationalism is a river rising 
in New England and emptying itself South and 
West into Presbyterianism " ; 2 and the Congre- 
gationalists thought their mission was to build up 
Presbyterian churches. 

What was the result? 

The result was that while two-thirds of the 
money 3 and a majority of the missionaries came 

1 L. W. Bacon, The Congregationalists, p. 153. 

2 Leavening the Nation, p. 40. 
8 Leavening the Nation, p. 41. 

[ M ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



from Congregationalists, two-thirds of the churches 
became Presbyterian. Congregational strength, 
polity, and influence were sacrificed in a most 
patriotic and unsectarian, but, as far as its own 
denominational future was concerned, short-sighted 
manner. A Presbyterian authority estimates that 
before 1828 " over 600 churches had been added 
to the Presbyterian body," and a Congregational 
authority * estimates that before the plan was abol- 
ished in 1852 " over 2,000 churches which were 
in origin and usages Congregational had become 
Presbyterian." The Presbyterian Church became 
strong in New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, 
while the Congregational churches were compara- 
tively few, because for fifty years the Congrega- 
tionalists not only did not seek the growth of 
their own denomination, but put their strength 
into building up another denomination. Hence " a 
large part of their greatest work for the nation 
stands without credit to themselves, and is even 
credited to others." 2 It is doubtful if church 
history records another act of such heroic and 
unsectarian self-sacrifice for the public welfare. 

What caused the plan to be given up? 

(1) The withdrawal of the old-school Presby- 
terians in 1837. (2) The awakening of the Con- 
gregationalists to denominational consciousness in 
1852, when it was seen (a) that though they were 
furnishing eighty-one per cent of the funds, and 
the Presbyterians nineteen per cent, yet the Con- 
gregationalists had few more churches in New 

1 Dr. A. H. Ross. 

2 L. W. Bacon. 

[ 43 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

York and Ohio than had been founded by mis- 
sionaries of Connecticut and Massachusetts thirty 
years before; (b) that Congregational churches 
were as well suited to the West as they were to 
Massachusetts and Connecticut; and (c) that the 
unsectarian Congregationalists of New England 
had been, as one historian has said, " the Lord's 
silly people." 1 



XII 

What is the Congregational Home Missionary- 
Society? 

It is a society in which, under the name of the 
" American Home Missionary Society," Congrega- 

1 See Hist. Congl Churches in the U. 8., pp. 316-318, 381, 382 ; 
also Congregationalists in America, Chap. XVII. 

The Presbyterians " were nearer the scene of missionary labor ; 
their denominational spirit was more assertive than that of the 
Congregationalism of the day ; their Presbyteries were rapidly 
spread over the missionary districts, and the natural desire for 
fellowship where the points of separation seemed so few led Con- 
gregational ministers to accept the welcome oifered therein." — 
Hist . Congl Churches in the U. S. , p. 318. 

" To the zealous propagandist, eager to belong to a big sect, 
[this] must seem nothing less than 'disastrous.' . . . Others will 
reckon it among the highest honors of a sect which in many ways 
has been nobly distinguished in the service of the Church Catholic, 
that it was capable of so heroic an act of self-abnegation. There 
are some competitions in which the honors and the ultimate re- 
wards of victory belong to the defeated party. " — The Congrega- 
tionalists, pp. 153, 154. 

" If it be true that Congregationalism is poorer by two thousand 
churches, many of them among the strongest of the land, it is an 
honorable poverty, which, like that of the Apostle, has made many 
rich." — Leavening the Nation, p. 41. 

[ 44 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



tional, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches united 
for Home Missionary work in 1825. The Re- 
formed churches withdrew in 1832, a part of the 
Presbyterian in 1837, and the remainder in 1861. 
Since then this society has belonged wholly to the 
Congregationalists, who adopted the present de- 
nominational name in 1893. 

What have the Congregational churches done 
through this organization? 

They have organized, or aided, over six thou- 
sand 1 churches, besides schools and colleges, and 
conducted missionary work in every state and ter- 
ritory. They have not only established nearly all 
the Congregational churches in the West and 
Northwest and four-fifths 2 of all in the entire 
country, but they have aided many in depleting 
communities to maintain themselves. In 1912 they 
contributed for this work $594,691, and employed 
1,178 missionaries, who ministered to 2,513 con- 
gregations. Among these Home Missionaries have 
been such men as Rev. J. D. Pierce, 3 to whom 
the educational system of Michigan and of other 
states 4 is due ; Rev. George H. Atkinson, 5 the 
chief promoter of Oregon's social, commercial, edu- 
cational, and religious progress ; Joseph Ward, 
the founder of Yankton College, of whom the gov- 

1 This is as many as now exist, and includes nearly all of the 
oldest and strongest churches west of New York. 

2 Leavening the Nation, p. 332. 

3 Leavening the Nation, pp. 79, 80. 

4 " The new states of the Union, in framing their educational 
systems, have been glad to follow the example of Michigan, and 

• have had fruitful and satisfactory success in proportion as they 
have adhered to it." — Judge T. M. Gooley, in " Michigan," p. 328. 
6 Leavening the Nation, pp. 200-206. 

[ 45 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



ernor of Dakota (who was an Episcopalian) said, 
" Ward has more influence than any other man in 
this Territory " ; * and many others who have per- 
manently shaped the religious, educational, and 
political institutions of great states. 

In what states have the largest number of home 
missionaries been employed? 

From 1826 to 1861 the largest number were in 
New York; from 1861 to 1874, in Iowa; from 
1874 to 1882, in Kansas; from 1882 to 1890, in 
Michigan and Kansas ; from 1890 to 1900, in 
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, and 
Nebraska. In 1912 the six states employing 
the largest number of Home Missionaries are in 
order Massachusetts (163), Washington (100), 
California (97), Maine (90), Connecticut (87), 
and North Dakota (80). 

What was the first foreign missionary society 
organized in the United States? 

It was The American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions, a corporation founded by 
Congregational ministers in 1810, and from which 
have come the Foreign Missionary societies of 
the Baptist, the Presbyterian, and the Reformed 
churches. Through it the Congregational churches 
in 1912 carried on missionary work in nearly 2,000 
different places, among about seventy-five million 
people, with a force of 612 American missionaries 
(of whom 402 are women, and 220 are men) and 
5,033 native laborers, including 322 ordained pas- 
tors, and 1,713 unordained, at an expense of 

i Leavening the Nation, p. 130. 

[ 46 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



$1,062,442. To this work the native contributions 
were $314,040. 

For what purpose do the Congregational churches 
carry on this work? 

Their purpose is to plant and nurture native 
Christian institutions (including Christian homes, 
churches, schools, society, and principles) so as 
to form " self-supporting, self-perpetuating, and 
aggressive native Christian communities." * 

Into what five departments is this work divided? 
It is divided into — 

(1) The industrial work, which is done through 
industrial schools, and aside from the salary of 
the supervising missionaries is practically self- 
supporting. 

(2) The medical work, which is managed by 
forty-four missionary physicians, and not only 
trains natives to become doctors and nurses, but 
maintains twenty-nine hospitals and forty-two dis- 
pensaries, and is very largely self-supporting. 

(3) The literary work, which consists of prepar- 
ing and publishing educational and religious books 
in twenty-six different languages, which are spoken 
by three hundred million people. 

(4) The educational work, which embraces 1,359 
schools, of which fourteen are colleges with 5,000 
students, fourteen are theological seminaries, and 
one hundred and fifteen are boarding or high 
schools, in all of which 2,703 teachers are engaged, 
and there are 76,953 students. 

(5) The evangelistic work, which is done 

i Dr. Barton. 
[ 47 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



through preaching, churches, Sunday-schools, 
etc. 1 

What then is the work which the Congregational 
churches of the United States are doing abroad? 

It is a widely extended, highly organized, and 
many-sided Christian business, conducted to benefit 
our fellow men morally, intellectually, spiritually, 
and physically, in which a force of 5,645 people 
are employed at an expense annually of over a 
million dollars, and from the beginning 2 of 
$40,000,000. 3 

What is the Congregational Education society? 

It is a society organized by Congregationalists 
in 1815 as " The American Education Society " 
(and in its earlier years supported somewhat by 
Presbyterians), to aid "young men of ability and 
Christian character to fit themselves to preach the 
gospel." Into it have been merged several socie- 
ties formed to promote education ; its present name 
was adopted in 1893. 

What have the Congregational churches done 
through it? 

They have aided nearly ten thousand men to be- 
come ministers, at an expense of $1,901,734; they 
have collected and distributed $2,563,000 to thirty 
colleges and seminaries ; they have established 
schools and academies in Utah and New Mexico, 
where there was no school system till within a 
few years ; and they now annually aid 4 colleges, 11 
academies, 16 other schools, about two hundred 

1 See Five Departments of the American Board, by Dr. Barton. 

2 Till 1912. 3 See Appendix III. 

[ 48 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

students at an expense of $125,000, the salaries of 
Congregational pastors in six state universities, 
and the foreign departments of two theological 
seminaries. 

What is the Congregational Sunday-school and 
Publishing Society? 

It is a society for establishing and cultivating 
pioneer Sunday-schools, mainly in the newer re- 
gions, which may develop into churches, and to 
cooperate with churches in their work of religious 
education through the Sunday-schools. It pub- 
lishes Sunday-school and other literature of im- 
portance to the denomination. It employs about 
70 state superintendents and missionaries, and has 
founded 12,308 Sunday-schools from which have 
grown 1,559 Congregational and many other 
churches. Its Business Department, conducted 
under the name of The Pilgrim Press, publishes 
The Congregationalist and maintains a Congrega- 
tional bookstore in Boston and Chicago, and offices 
in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Fran- 
cisco, and its profits are devoted to its missionary 
and educational work. 

What is the American Missionary Association? 

It is a society founded by Congregationalists in 
1846 " to conduct missionary and educational oper- 
ations in our own and other countries," because 
other societies did not sufficiently disclaim affilia- 
tion with slavery. It inherited the work of a mis- 
sion in West Africa, a mission in Jamaica, and 
a mission among the Indians of Minnesota, started 
by Oberlin College, and after the war it assumed 
[ 49 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



the work of " The Freedmen's Bureau." Through 
it the Congregationalists during the last forty 
years have carried on Christian and civilizing 
work among the negroes in the South, the white 
people of the mountains of North Carolina, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee, the Indians, the Chinese in 
California, and the West-Indians of Porto Rico. 

What are the Congregational churches doing now 
through the American Missionary Association? 

In 1912 they maintained six colleges with 2,963 
students ; three theological seminaries with 203 
students ; forty-three normal and graded schools ; 
twenty-three ungraded schools ; in all one hundred 
schools with 15,710 pupils. They also cared for 
208 churches, and Sunday-schools in which are 
12,707 pupils — all with a force of 856 mission- 
aries and teachers, at a cost of $543,914. 

Where are these colleges located? 

Fisk University is at Nashville, Tenn., and has 

430 students. 
Talladega College is at Talladega, Ala., and has 

722 students. 
Tougaloo University is at Tougaloo, Miss., and 

has 441 students. 
Straight University is at New Orleans, and has 

620 students. 
Tillotson College is at Austin, Texas, and has 

356 students. 
Piedmont College is at Demorest, Ga., and has 

394 students. 1 
i The Theological seminaries are at Atlanta University, Atlanta, 
Ga., at Howard University, Washington, D. C, and Talladega, 
Ala. 



[ 50 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



Where are the normal and graded schools located? 

In Alabama, 8 In North Carolina, 10 

In Florida, 2 In South Carolina, 2 

In Georgia, 11 In Tennessee, 3 

In Kentucky, 1 In Texas, 1 

In Louisiana, 1 In Virginia, 1 
In Mississippi, 3 

Where are the ungraded schools? 

All of them are in Georgia and North Carolina. 

What do the Congregational churches do through 
this society for the Indians? 

They maintain fifty-five missionaries and teach- 
ers in various stations, and also twenty-one 
churches. 

Where are these stations? 

South Dakota Montana 

North Dakota Alaska 

Nebraska 

What is the Congregational Church Building 
Society? 

It is a society organized in 1853 under the 
name of The American Congregational Union, to 
aid young and weak churches to build meeting- 
houses and parsonages. Through it in sixty 
years Congregational churches have helped in 
building 4,300 houses of worship and 1,132 par- 
sonages at an expense of $5,376,613. 1 
i In 1912 aid was given in the construction of 99 churches 
and 29 parsonages, at an expense of $226,405. 

[ 51 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

On what conditions is this aid granted? 

It is granted on the invariable conditions that 
buildings when finished shall be free from debt, 
shall be kept insured, and if they cease to be 
used for church purposes, the Building Society 
shall have the first claim on them. 

What is the Congregational Board of Ministerial 
Relief? 

It is an organization for the relief of aged and 
infirm Congregational ministers and their widows. 1 

What other benevolent work is done by the Con- 
gregational churches? 

They aid many interdenominational societies, 
organized in part by them, like The American 
Bible Society, The American Tract Society, The 
Seaman's Friend Society, The American Sunday- 
school Union ; also schools in the South not under 
The American Missionary Association, as well as 
city missionary work, hospitals, and other local 
institutions. 

What agencies for the good of humanity (aside 
from their own self-sustaining churches and 
educational institutions) do the Congregation- 
alists carry on in the United States and abroad? 

They carry on a vast religious, educational, and 
civilizing work in over 6,000 different places. 

They sustain over 2,900 missionaries (of whom 
twenty per cent are in foreign fields). 

They employ 2,900 teachers, 
i In 1912, its invested funds, only the income of which can 
be used, was but $221,017, with which and contributions from 
the churches it aided 390 persons. 
[ 52 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



They maintain 35 colleges, 16 theological semi- 
naries, several medical and manual training 
schools, 200 boarding and high schools, and over 
1,500 other schools, in all of which (not includ- 
ing Sunday-schools) 84,000 persons are under 
instruction. 

They assist and guide 3,500 churches, and to 
do this work they keep a total army of over 7,500 
persons actively employed, and spend annually 
about $2,500,000. 

Is not this a crippling burden to them? 

The whole of it costs an average of less than 
one cent a day from each member of the Congre- 
gational churches. 



XIII 

What have Congregational churches done in estab- 
lishing educational institutions in the United 
States? 

(1) Congregational ministers founded the edu- 
cational systems of Ohio, Michigan, and Oregon, 
and a Congregational minister secured the passage 
of the ordinance which reserved every sixteenth 
section of land in several western states for main- 
taining free education. 

(2) Congregationalists founded Harvard Col- 
lege in 1636, with the motto " Christo et Ecclesise," 
and it was a distinctively Congregational college 
till 1805. 

(3) A company of Congregational ministers 
founded Yale College in 1701, and until 1899 

[ 53 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

its presidents were invariably Congregational 
clergymen. 

(4) A school for Indians founded by a Congre- 
gational minister in Connecticut was removed to 
Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1769, and became 
Dartmouth College. A majority of its trustees 
and all of its presidents (save one) have been 
Congregational ministers. 

(5) Williams College, beginning as an academy 
under a Congregational minister, was incorporated 
in 1793, — the principal of the academy being its 
first president ; of his successors one was the first 
president of Amherst, and all have been Congre- 
gational ministers. 

(6) In response to a petition of Congregational 
ministers, and others, a college was organized at 
Brunswick, Maine, in 1794, and called Bowdoin, 
after a governor of Massachusetts. In 1842 its 
overseers and trustees declared that " from its 
foundation it has been, and still is, of the orthodox 
Congregational denomination." 

(7) Middlebury College (Vermont) was opened 
as a Congregational institution in 1800. 

(8) Amherst College was founded with a dis- 
tinctively religious aim in 1821, and has been 
endowed and managed by Congregationalists. 

(9) Illinois College, at Jacksonville, was founded 
by a band of Congregational home missionaries 
from Yale College in 1829, and exerted a wide in- 
fluence on the educational institutions of the State. 

(10) Oberlin College (Ohio) was founded by a 
Congregational colony from New England in 1833. 

(11) Marietta College (Ohio) was founded by 
a Congregational colony from New England in 
1835. 

[ 54 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

(12) Olivet College (Michigan), a daughter of 
Oberlin, was founded in 1844, and has received 
most of its endowments and all of its presidents 
from the Congregationalists. 

(13) Beloit College (Wisconsin), organized in 
1846, grew out of the efforts of Congregational 
ministers for Christian education in the West, 
and has been endowed and maintained by Con- 
gregationalists. 

(14) Iowa College, at Grinnell, was founded in 
1848 by a band of Congregational home mission- 
aries from Andover. 

(15) Ripon College (Wisconsin) was founded in 
1851, and aided for a time by Presbyterians, but 
since 1863 it has been maintained by Congrega- 
tionalists. 

(16) Tabor College (Iowa), incorporated in 
1857, was founded by Congregational home mis- 
sionaries, and has been sustained by Congrega- 
tional churches ever since. 

(17) Washburn College, at Topeka, Kansas, 
was founded by Congregationalists in 1865, and 
is governed and supported by them. 

(18) Carleton College, at Northfield (Minne- 
sota), was established and endowed by the Con- 
gregational churches of Minnesota in 1866. 

(19) Howard University, at Washington, was 
founded by Congregationalists in 1867. 

(20) Atlanta University (Georgia) was es- 
tablished in 1867, and is largely supported by 
Congregationalists. 

(21) Hampton Institute was founded in 1868 
and built up by the son of a Congregational mis- 
sionary, with funds secured largely from Con- 
gregationalists. 

[ 55 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



(22) Doane College, at Crete, Nebraska, was 
established by the home missionary ministers and 
churches of Nebraska in 1872, and took the name 
of a Congregationalist. 

(23) Drury College, at Springfield (Missouri), 
was organized and endowed by Congregationalists, 
after one of whom it was named, in 1873, and 
has since been maintained by the Congregational 
churches of Missouri. 

(24) Colorado College, at Colorado Springs, 
was founded in 1874, and has been endowed and 
always governed by Congregationalists. 

(25) Yankton College, South Dakota, grew out 
of the labors and sacrifices of the Congregational- 
ists in 1881, as did also Fargo College, North 
Dakota, in 1888, 

(26) Other colleges founded and sustained by 
Congregationalists are : — 

Pacific University in Oregon, founded 1854. 
Berea College, Berea, Ky., founded 1855. 
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash., founded 

1859. 
Wheaton College, Wheaton, 111., founded 1860. 
Gates College, Crete, Neb., founded 1881. 
Rollins College, Winter Park, Fla., founded 1885, 
The American International College, Springfield, 

Mass., founded 1885. 
Redfield College, South Dakota, founded 1887. 
Pomona College, Claremont, Cal., founded 1888. 
Fargo College, Fargo, North Dakota, founded 

1888. 
Kingfisher College, Oklahoma, founded 1891. 
Fairmount College, Wichita, Kansas, founded 1895. 
Northland College, Ashland, Wis., founded 1892. 
[ 56 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



The Mount Hermon Schools of Mr. Moody, at 

Northfield, Mass., 1 founded in 1882. 
Windom College, Montevideo, Minn., founded 1913. 

Why were these colleges established? 

They were established to do the same work 
in their vicinities that early Congregationalists 
founded Harvard and Yale to do in Massachusetts 
and Connecticut. 

What women's colleges have been established and 
endowed by Congregationalists? 

(1) Mount Holyoke College, founded as a sem- 
inary in 1837, and became a college in 1888. 

(2) Smith College, founded in 1875. 

(3) Wellesley College, founded in 1875. 

(4) Wheaton College, Norton, Mass., founded 
1912. 

What other well-known schools have been estab- 
lished and endowed by Congregationalists? 

Phillips Academy, Andover, 1778 
Phillips Academy, Exeter, 1781 
Bradford Academy, Mass., 1803 
Adams Academy, Derry, Vt., 1823 
Ipswich Academy, Mass., 1828 
Abbott Seminary, Andover, Mass., 1829 
Wheaton Seminary, Norton, Mass., 1834 

Are these colleges and schools denominational? 

The church connected with them (excepting Har- 
vard) is usually Congregational. They are not, 

1 This list does not include colleges under the American Mis- 
sionary Association, or the American Board, nor many founded 
by Congregationalists and Presbyterians jointly; as, for exam- 
ple, Princeton, Union, Hamilton, Western Reserve University, 
Knox, Lincoln. 



[ 57 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

however, denominational, but seek to give a liberal 
and unsectarian education under Christian but un- 
denominational influences. 

What theological seminaries have the Congrega- 
tional churches? 

Andover, opened in 1808, removed to Cam- 
bridge in 1909. 

Bangor, opened at Hampden, Maine, in 1816, 
later removed to Bangor. 

Yale, a department of the University, opened in 
1822. 

Hartford, founded at East Windsor, Connecti- 
cut, in 1834, and removed to Hartford in 1865. 

Oberlin, founded in 1835. 

Chicago, founded in 1858. 

Pacific, at Oakland, California, opened in 1869. 

In addition are three seminaries conducted 
by the American Missionary Association, and 
fourteen conducted by The American Board. 

How many colleges and higher institutions o£ 
learning in the United States are directly due to 
the efforts of Congregationalists? 

Probably there are more than one hundred. 

XIV 

What was the attitude of the Congregational 
churches towards slavery? 

From the Congregational churches (including 
the Unitarian) came nearly all the early protests 
and teachings which removed slavery from New 
England, and formed its antislavery sentiments. 
Dr. Samuel Hopkins and Jonathan Edwards, Jr., 
championed the freedom of the negroes in the last 
[ 58 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

of the eighteenth century, as Dr. Lyman Beecher 
and Jeremiah Evarts and others did in the first of 
the nineteenth century. In 1833 Oberlin College 
was organized as an antislavery institution, where 
colored people could have the same privileges as 
white. 

From 1840 a large number of Congregational 
ministers 1 (of whom Henry Ward Beecher, Leonard 
Bacon, and J. P. Thompson are the most dis- 
tinguished) denounced slavery from their pulpits, 
and " The Independent " was founded by Congre- 
gational ministers as an organ for the opponents 
of slavery. The American Board in 1845 unani- 
mously adopted a report strongly condemning the 
system of slavery, and in 1846 The American Mis- 
sionary Association was founded on antislavery 
principles. The Congregational Convention at 
Albany in 1852 uttered its unanimous protest 
against the " stupendous wrong of slavery." 
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " was written by a woman 
whose father, husband, and brothers were Congre- 
gational ministers, and whose son is a Congrega- 
tional minister. 

Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, as well as other 
churches, took an active part in the efforts to 
keep slavery from Kansas. One Congregational 
church, which emigrated from Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts, to South Carolina in 1695, but removed 
to Georgia in 1752, abolished the color-line, and 

1 The Congregationalists were much more free to oppose slavery 
than either the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, or Episcopal 
churches, because branches of each of the latter churches extended 
through the slaveholding states, whereas the Congregational 
churches, with two or three exceptions, were all in antislavery 

[ 59 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

had at one time eight hundred members who were 
slaves. 1 

What are some of the well-known periodicals 
founded by Congregationalists during the nine- 
teenth century? 

The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, founded 
in 1800, and now The Missionary Herald. 

The Boston Recorder, 1816. 

The New York Observer, 1823. 

The New York Evangelist, 1831. 

The New Englander, 1843. 

The Bibliotheca Sacra, Andover, 1844 ; Oberlin, 
1884. 

1 This church was first planted near Charleston, South Carolina, 
but it divided in 1752, when a minority remained and maintained a 
Congregational church till 1861. The majority moved to Midway, 
Georgia. " It has sent out more than 100 ministers of the gospel. 
Its standard of purity and its discipline were severely maintained 
in times that tried men's souls, and during the Revolutionary War, 
when Georgia refused to send a delegate to the Continental Con- 
gress, this church sent its own delegate to that body ; and it was the 
Massachusetts blood of this old Dorchester-Midway Church that 
powerfully influenced the State of Georgia to enter the Union. ' It 
gave to the nation two of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence ; the first Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary 
that ever entered the Imperial court of China from any nation ; six 
congressmen, and among other blessings, the mother of a Vice- 
President of the United States. It gave to the State its first insti- 
tution of higher learning, four of its governors, several judges in its 
courts, State officials of many kinds, mayors of cities, educators in 
large numbers, including several college presidents. It gave its own 
name to one of the counties of the State, and the names of its mem- 
bers to five other counties. It gave to the Church six foreign mis- 
sionaries, bishops, and other officials. It gave to the world the first 
inventor of that blessing to womankind, the sewing-machine.' Its 
influence was boundless, and is still felt in Georgia and in the 
nation." — Leavening the Nation, p. 188. 

[ 60 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



The Independent, New York, 1848. 

The Congregationalist, Boston, formerly The 
Boston Recorder, 1849. 

The Pacific, San Francisco, 1853. 

The Congregational Quarterly, Boston, 1859. 

The Outlook, New York, formerly The Christian 
Union, 1866. 

The Advance, Chicago, 1867. 

The Andover Review, 1884. 

What writers of well-known hymns were Con- 
gregationalists ? 

Isaac Watts Leonard Bacon 

Philip Doddridge Washington Gladden 

Timothy Dwight Phoebe Brown 

Ray Palmer E. P. Parker 

What two Congregational ministers of the nine- 
teenth century are preeminently distinguished? 

(1) Horace Bushnell (1802-1876), a pastor 
at Hartford, Connecticut (1833-1859), and the 
author of several important theological books, in 
which, breaking away from the theology of Ed- 
wards, he led in the newer thought which has 
increasingly prevailed during the last forty years. 

(2) Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), the 
pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, from 1847 
to his death ; author of many works ; editor of 
" The Independent " and founder of " The Chris- 
tian Union " ; probably the greatest pulpit orator 
of America. 



[ 61 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



Who are some of the men of especial distinction 
as theologians in the Congregational churches 
during the nineteenth century? 

Some of them are : — 

Leonard Woods (1774-1854), pastor at West 
Newbury, Massachusetts, professor of theology at 
Andover from 1808 to 1846, and the instructor of 
over one thousand ministers. 

Nathaniel W. Taylor (1786-1858), pastor of 
the First Church, New Haven, professor of theol- 
ogy at Yale and founder of the New Haven the- 
ology (which was the liberal type of the time). 

Bennett Tyler (1788-1858), a pastor in Con- 
necticut and in Portland, Maine, president of 
Dartmouth College, and founded at East Windsor, 
Connecticut, of what is now Hartford Theological 
Seminary. 

Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), pastor in Litch- 
field, Connecticut, and Boston, professor of theol- 
ogy in Lane Seminary, Ohio, and an eminent 
preacher. 

Moses Stuart (1780-1852), pastor of the First 
Church, New Haven, professor at Andover, and 
influential author and scholar. 

Edwards A. Park (1808-1900), professor at 
Amherst (1834-1836), professor at Andover Semi- 
nary from 1836 to 1881, by whom the theology of 
a very large number of ministers has been formed. 

What noted evangelists have been Congregation- 
alists? 

Charles G. Finney and Dwight L. Moody. 
[ 62 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

What is The American Congregational Association? 

It is an association founded in Boston in 1851 to 
establish a Congregational library. By its efforts 
the present library and Congregational building in 
Boston were secured and are now held in trust 
and administered. 

XV 

Where has been the growth of Congregational 
churches since the Plan of Union was abolished? 

Their growth when contrasted with some other 
denominations has not been great, but it has been 
marked and continuous, and especially notable in 
recent years. 

(1) Congregational home missionaries first en- 
tered Michigan in 1832, and in 1837 there were 
about thirty Congregational churches ; in 1912 
there were 320, with 326,382 members, benevolent 
contributions $75,993, and home expenses $327,880. 

(2) Congregational home missionaries entered 
Illinois in 1826, and were followed by seven young 
men from Yale, called " The Illinois Band," in 
1829 ;* in 1844 there were 60 Congregational 
churches ; in 1913 there were 354, with 56,081 
members, benevolent contributions $269,690, and 
home expenses $625,804. The first Congrega- 
tional church in Chicago was formed in 1851 ; in 
1905 there were seventy-eight. 2 

i Illinois at that time had but one hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants, and the journey from New Haven consumed from 
four to six weeks. 

2 Rev. Jeremiah Porter, a Congregational minister, preached 
the first sermon ever heard in Chicago, in 1833, and took for his 
text, " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." 

[ 63 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



(3) Three young ministers from Yale College 
entered Iowa in 1838, and were followed five years 
later by eleven, called " The Iowa Band," and by 
1858 there were sixty Congregational churches; in 
1913 there were 296, with 36,838 members, be- 
nevolent contributions $72,482, and home expenses 
$381,436. 

(4) The first Congregational home missionaries 
went to Wisconsin in 1840 ; in 1912 there were 267 
churches, with 27,619 members, benevolent contri- 
butions $57,630, and home expenses $352,883. 

(5) Congregational missionaries began work in 
California in 1848; in 1913 there were 240 
churches, with 28,502 members, benevolent con- 
tributions $111,587, and home expenses $409,420. 

(6) Marcus Whitman, a missionary of the 
American Board, arrived in Oregon x in 1842, 
and by his famous ride to Washington, D. C, 
is thought to have saved the Northwest Territory 
to the United States. In 1848 one Congrega- 
tional home missionary came after a voyage 
of nine months, via Honolulu ; in 1912 there were 
59 churches, with 5,601 members, benevolent con- 
tributions, $5,601, and home expenses $84,889. 

(7) Congregational home missionaries entered 
Minnesota in 1851 ; in 1912 there were 227 Con- 
gregational churches, with 22,694 members, benev- 
olent contributions $55,217, and home expenses 
$398,571 ; and in the ratio of its churchgoing 
people it now ranks in the same class as Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 2 

(8) Congregational home missionaries first went 

t Oregon included Washington and Idaho till 1853. 
2 Leavening the Nation, p. 127. 



[ 64 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



to Nebraska in 1855; in 1912 there were 195 
churches, with 17,381 members, benevolent contri- 
butions $36,602, and home expenses $204,842. 

(9) Four Congregational missionaries from 
Andover, called "The Kansas Band," entered Kan- 
sas in 1856; in 1912 there were 158 churches, with 
21,549 members, benevolent contributions $23,528, 
and home expenses $191,374. 

(10) Congregational home missionaries went to 
Colorado in 1863 ; in 1912 there were 96 Congre- 
gational churches, with 10,284 members, benevo- 
lences $21,549, and home expenses $117,760. 

(11) One Congregational home missionary 1 
went to South Dakota in 1868, and within eight 
years he had not only organized several churches, 
but devised the state constitution, and established 
a college at a cost of more than $100,000; in 
1880 he was reenforced by nine young men called 
"The Yale Dakota Band"; in 1912 there were 
211 Congregational churches, with 10,199 mem- 
bers, benevolent contributions $22,693, and home 
expenses $127,530. And in North Dakota there 
were 225 churches, with 7,383 members, benevo- 
lences $10,106, and home expenses $107,936; and 
the religious force in that state is as great in 
proportion to its inhabitants as it is in Ohio. 2 

(12) The first Congregational church in Wash- 
ington was formed in 1871, and in 1890 six young 
men called " The Yale Washington Band " went to 
that state; in 1912 it had 189 churches, with 
13,844 members, benevolences $76,706, and home 
expenses $216,168. 

i Rev. Joseph Ward. 

2 Leavening the Nation, p. 137. 



[ 65 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



(13) The first Congregational church in Okla- 
homa was organized in 1889 ; twenty-three years 
later there were 63 Congregational churches, with 
3,745 members, benevolences $3,238, and home ex- 
penses $35,512. 

(14) The first Congregational church in Florida 
was organized in 1875, and in 1883 there were 
five churches; in 1912 there were 56, with 2,490 
members, benevolences $5,325, and home expenses 
$45,321. 

(15) The first Congregational church in Geor- 
gia since the war was organized in 1871 ; in 1913 
there were 91, with 6,361 members, benevolences 
$3,478, and home expenses $23,008. 

(16) The Congregational churches in other 
states and territories were in 1912 — 

Alabama, 93 Montana, 64 

Alaska, 4 Nevada, 1 

Arizona, 8 New Jersey, 48 

Arkansas, '3 New Mexico, 6 
Dist. of Columbia, 6 North Carolina, 64 

Hawaii, 102 Pennsylvania, 114 

Idaho, 34 South Carolina, 12 

Indiana, 40 Tennessee, 30 

Kentucky, 8 Texas, 30 

Louisiana, 30 Utah, 10 

Maryland, 5 Virginia, 4 

Mississippi, 5 West Virginia, 2 

Missouri, 70 Wyoming, 22 

How many Congregational churches are there in 
the United States? 

In 1912 there were 6,048, with 738,761 mem- 
bers. 

[ 66 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

How have these churches increased by decades 
since 1850? 

Churches Members 

In 1857 there were 2,315 224,732 

" 1864 " " 2,667 262,649 

« 1874 " " 3,403 330,391 

" 1884 " " 4,092 401,549 

" 1894 " " 5,342 583,539 

" 1904 " " 5,919 673,721 

" 1912 " " 6,048 738,761 

In 1840 four-fifths of the Congregational 
churches were in New England. In 1912 seventy- 
three per cent (though only sixty-four per cent of 
the church members) were outside of New Eng- 
land, and one-third was west of the Mississippi. 
Nearly half of the money, and more than half of 
the men for missionary work now come from re- 
gions that from twenty to fifty years ago were 
Home Missionary fields. 

XVI 

What are some of the effects which Congrega- 
tional churches have produced in the nation? 
They have, among other things, 

(1) Caused the leading principles of Congrega- 
tional church government to be universally adopted 
in civil government. 

(2) They have leavened the West and North- 
west with New England ideals and institutions. 

('3) They have done far more than any other 
denomination to lift up the negroes and train 
teachers and leaders among them. 

(4) They established the first schools in Utah 
and New Mexico, and have founded a large number 
of colleges which now do in newer states the work 
[ 67 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



that New England colleges have done and are 
doing in older states. 

(5) They have introduced a system of church 
government which has been adopted by a large 
proportion of the Protestant churches of America, 
and has caused a profound deference to the wishes 
of each local congregation to exist even in churches 
not congregationally governed. 1 

How do Congregationalists in the United States 
rank with other denominations in numbers? 

They rank eighth, being surpassed in order by 
the Roman Catholics; the Baptists; the Meth- 
odists ; the Presbyterians ; the Disciples of Christ ; 
the Episcopalians, and the Lutherans. 

What States have the largest number of Congre- 
gational churches? 

In 1912 — New York, 298 

Massachusetts had 598 Wisconsin, 267 

Illinois, 354 Maine, 263 

Michigan, 320 Ohio, 245 

Connecticut, '331 California, 240 

Iowa, 296 Minnesota, 227 

In what cities are the largest number of Congre- 
gational churches? 

In 1912 there were 2 - — 

In Chicago, 78 In Los Angeles, 19 

" Boston, 36 " Denver, 17 

" Brooklyn, 28 " Worcester, 17 

" Cleveland, 26 " New Haven, 15 

" Minneapolis, 24 " San Francisco, 14 

" Seattle, 20 " St. Louis, 13 

1 See Pioneers of Religious Liberty in America, p. 36. 

2 It should be noted that of these twelve largest Congrega- 
tional centers, nine are outside of New England; eight are west 

[ 68 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What States give the most money for benevolences? 
More than half of all benevolent gifts come 
from the New England States, where the pro- 
portion given per member averages nearly double 
what it is outside of New England. 

How many Congregational ministers are in the 
United States? 

In 1912 there were 6,116, of which 4,113 were 
actively engaged in pastoral work. 

What proportion of active Congregational minis- 
ters are home missionaries? 

More than forty-nine per cent. 

What proportion of all the churches and pastors 
seek the advice of a council for installation? 

In 1912 less than eleven per cent of the 
churches, and about ten per cent of the pastors. 1 

What were the reported home expenses of the 
Congregational churches in 19 12? 

They were $9,356,122,— an average of $1,563 
each, or $12.66 per member. 2 

What were the reported benevolent contributions 
of these churches? 

They were $2,454,340 (that is, $3.32 per mem- 
ber), 3 or about one-quarter as much as their 
entire parish expenses, and of this sum over one- 
fifth was for other benevolent work than that done 
through denominational societies. 

of the Alleghany Mountains, and (with the possible exception 
of Cleveland) are in cities that in 1852 were on the frontier, 
or unknown; five are west of the Mississippi; and three are on 
the Pacific coast. For instructive statistics of church growth 
in these cities, see Appendix VI. 

1 See Appendix V, 4. 2 See Appendix V, 3. 

s Probably a large proportion of the benevolent gifts of 
members of these churches is not reported. See Appendix V, 2. 

[ 69 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What is the estimated value of the church prop- 
erty of the Congregational churches? 

It is $75,424,037, of which the states having the 
largest amount are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota. 

What is the average salary of Congregational 
ministers? 

It is $929. Aside from states having eight or 
less churches, the average salary in — 



New Jersey is $1,621 
Missouri, $1,386 
Massachusetts, $1,301 
Illinois, $1,149 



California, $1,143 
Rhode Island, $1,094 
Ohio, $1,069 
Indiana, $1,038 



In other states less than $1,000. 



48 ministers receive over 



49 

74 

117 

266 

803 

2,167 

1,356 



£4,000 salary. 
3,000 to 4,000 
2,500 " 3,000 
2,000 " 2,500 
1,500 " 2,000 
1,000 " 1,500 
500 " 1,000 
500 or less 



How are Congregational churches in the United 
States divided as regards church-membership? 
There were in 1912 — 

31 churches having more than 1,000 members 



181 


t a 




from 500 to 


1,000 " 


529 


i a 




" 250 " 


500 " 


702 


i a 




" 150 " 


250 " 


2,195 


a a 




50 " 


150 " 


2,129 


a a 




less than 


50 " 




[ 


70 


] 





CONGREGATIONALISTS 

What are some of the reasons why there are so 
many small Congregational churches? 

The j are: (1) forty-five per cent of these 
churches have been organized within the forty 
years preceding 1912. 

(2) A large number of churches in hill towns of 
New England and decaying towns elsewhere have 
become small. 

(3) The aim of the Congregational churches 
has been to establish and sustain a church, though 
it be small, where it is needed and there is no other 
church. 

What has been the annual per cent of increase in 
membership of Congregational churches in recent 
years? 

It has been about one and a half per cent; in 
1904 it was two per cent ; in 1912 it was less than 
one-half per cent. 

What was the origin of the Young People's Socie- 
ties of Christian Endeavor? 

They originated in the efforts of Rev. F. E. 
Clark, a Congregational minister in Portland, 
Maine, to devise a society for the young people of 
his church, in 1881. The societies extended rapidly 
not only among Congregational churches, but 
among the Presbyterians and Baptists, and their 
success incited other denominations to form various 
young people's organizations. The movement has 
now become world-wide, and there were in 1905 
67,000 Christian Endeavor societies, in over fifty 
nations or large colonial dependencies, and among 
people speaking eighty languages. 
[ 71 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



What is the National Council of the Congrega- 
tional churches? 

It is a gathering of representatives of all the 
churches of the country to consider the common 
work and interests of the denomination. While the 
recommendations of this body are highly esteemed 
and may be adopted by the churches, it has no 
authority to legislate for them. Since 1871 it has 
met triennially. 1 

XVII 

When did Congregational churches begin to be 
permanently established in England? 

They began with the passage of the " Act of 
Toleration " in 1689, nearly seventy years later 
than in New England, among Puritans who were 
attracted by " The New England Way." Their 
history " is the story of patient endurance for 
conscience' sake under long, persistent public odium 
and insult; of honorable achievement in education 
and learning and high public service, in spite of 
the protracted exclusion 2 from the universities ; 
and of self-denying mission work at home and in 
the ends of the earth." 3 Their problems and 
obstacles in the face of a strong established church 
are very different from those of the churches of 
the United States. The London Foreign Mission- 
ary Society was organized by them in 1795, fifteen 
years before the American Board, and in the extent 
and efficiency of its work it is surpassed only by 
The English Church Missionary Society. 

1 Appendix IV. 

2 This exclusion was not removed till 1871. 

8 The Congregationalists, L. W. Bacon, p. 264 

[ 72 ] 



CONGREGATIONALlfeTS 



How many Congregational churches are in Great 
Britain? 

In 1912 there were 5,028 churches, of which 358 
are in and about London, 332 in Lancashire, and 
318 in Yorkshire. 1 

What Congregational churches are in other British 
possessions? 

Aside from churches established by The London 
Foreign Missionary Society, there are nearly five 
hundred in Australia and neighboring islands, 
about two hundred in Canada, over four hundred in 
South Africa, one hundred in Japan and about two 
thousand organized under the American Board. 

What is the total number of Congregational 
churches in the world? 
There are over 14,000. 

What are some reasons for holding Congregational 
churches in high esteem? 

They are deserving of such esteem — 

(1) For their early history, their honorable 
ancestry, and the part they have taken in found- 
ing and developing the United States. 

(2) For their contributions to political ideals, 
to freedom, to learning, to theology, and to a 
high standard of citizenship. 

(3) For their broad-minded and patriotic con- 
ception of the importance of religion and educa- 
tion for all communities, and the unsectarian spirit 
with which they have leavened the nation with 

i Other counties having more than 100 churches are Glouces- 
tershire and Herefordshire, 188; Essex, 172; Hampshire, 127; 
Devonshire, 126; Sussex, 126; Suffolk, 113. There are 4,615 
Congregational churches in England and Wales; 218 in Scot- 
land; 45 in Ireland; 13 in the Channel Islands. 

[ 78 ] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 



churches, colleges, and other institutions for the 
public welfare which are denominational only in 
having been established by Congregationalists, and 
which often bear another denominational name. 

(4) For maintaining churches which not only 
harmonize with prevailing religious opinion, but 
are both looking for, and free to accept, any " new 
light that may break forth from the Word of 
God." 

(5) For their distinguished preachers, authors, 
educators, and missionaries. 

(6) For the high intelligence, public spirit, 
morality, and the benevolent offerings of their 
members. 

(7) For their missionary work among all sorts 
and conditions of men in America, and their suc- 
cess in establishing self-sustaining, self-perpetu- 
ating, civilizing, and Christian institutions in 
many lands, the influence of which on the world 
no man can estimate. 

Of what may Congregationalists be confident? 

They may be confident that they have a distinct 
mission and place in establishing the kingdom of 
God, and that their polity and spirit appeal to a 
large class of thoughtful and patriotic people; 
that their churches tend to develop well-rounded 
and self-reliant Christians who wish to serve God 
by serving their fellow men ; that their fellowship 
is not " a rope of sand " ; that as champions of 
freedom in worship and thought, of education, and 
of missionary activities their task and influence are 
great, and must be greater in the future than 
they have been in the past. 

[ 74 ] 



APPENDIX I 




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CONGREGATIONALISTS 



APPENDIX II 

John Endicott's Letter 

To ye Worshipful and my right worthie Friend, William 
Bkadford, Esq., Governor of New Plimouth, these; 

Right Worthy S b ; 

It is a thing not usuall, that servants to one nrT, 
and of y e same houshould should be strangers ; I 
assure you I desire it not, nay to speake more plainly 
I cannot be so to you. Gods people are all marked 
with one, and y e same marke, and sealed with one 
and y e same seale; and have for y e maine, one & 
y e same harte, guided by one & same spirite of truth ; 
and wher this is, ther can be no discorde, nay here 
must needs be sweete harmonie. And y e same request 
(with you) I make unto y e lord, that we may, as 
Christian breethren be united, by a heavenly & un- 
fained love; bending all our harts and forces, in 
furthering a worke beyond our strength, with rev- 
erence & fear fastening our eyes allways on him ; that 
only is able to directe, and prosper all our ways. I 
acknowledge my selfe much bound to you, for your 
kind love, and care in sending ml* Fuller among us; 
and rejoyce much y t I am by him satisfied touching 
your judgments of y e outward forme of Gods wor- 
shipe. It is as farr as I can yet gather, no other then 
is warrented by y e evidence of truth. And y e same 
which I have proffessed, and maintained, ever since y e 
lord in mercie revealed him selfe unto me. Being farr 
from y e commone reporte that hath been spread of 
you touching that perticuler, But gods children must 
not looke for less here below, and it is y e great mercie 
[76] 



CONGREGATIONALISTS 

of God, that he strengthens them, to goe through with 
it. I shall not neede at this time to be tedious unto 
you, for god willing I purpose to see your face 
shortly. In y e mean time, I humbly take my leave 
of you, counting you to y e Lords blessed protection, 
& rest 

your assured loving friend 

Jo Endecott 
Naumkeak May 11 An9 1629 

Covenant of the Salem Church 

" We Covenant with the Lord and one with another ; 
and doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, to 
walke together in all his waies, according as he is 
pleased to reveale himself unto us in his Blessed word 
of truth." 



APPENDIX III 

Expended in Foreign Missionary Work 

The receipts of the American Board by decades 
are — 

1811 to 1820 $202,379 

1821 to 1830 707,316 

1831 to 1840 1,843,422 

1841 to 1850 2,560,447 

1851 to 1860 3,318,748 

1861 to 1870 4,550,371 

1871 to 1880 4,782,078 

1881 to 1890 6,599,141 

1890 to 1900 7,221,636 

1900 to 1912 (12 yrs.) 10,476,712 



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CONGREGATIONALISTS 



APPENDIX IV 

Places of Meeting of the National Council 
of Congregational Churches 

Albany, 1852 Minneapolis, 1892 

Boston, 1865 Syracuse, 1895 

Oberlin, 1871 Portland, Ore., 1898 

New Haven, 1874 Portland, Me., 1901 

Detroit, 1877 Des Moines, 1904 

St. Louis, 1880 Cleveland, 1907 
Concord, N. H., 1883 Boston, 1910 

Chicago, 1886 Kansas City, 1913 
Worcester, 1889 

APPENDIX V 

The following approximately correct statistics are 
furnished by Rev. Dr. Asher Anderson : — 

XI) The per cent of increase in church-membership 
was, in 

1860, 1.3 1904, 2. 

1870, 2.4 1905, 01.5 

1880, .468 1906, 01.8 

1890, 3. 1907, 01.7 

1900, .8 1908, 01.5 

1901, 1.99 1909, 01.6 

1902, 1.05 1910, 00.61 

1903, 1.15 1911, 00.43 

(2) The reported benevolence per member was, in 

1870, $3.21 1900, $3.47 

1880, 2.68 1901, 3.42 

1890, 4.47 1902, 3.26 

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CONGREGATIONALISTS 



1903, $3.16 


1908, $3.27 


1904, 3.21 


1909, 3.84 


1905, 3.43 


1910, 3.88 


1906, 3.51 


1911, 3.32 


1907, 3.65 




(3) The reported home 
her, in 


expenses were, per mem- 


1880, $9.00 


1905, $12.40 


1890, 12.00 


1906, 12.18 


1900, 11.83 


1907, 12.61 


1901, 11.73 


1908, 12.50 


1902, 12.13 


1909, 12.45 


1903, 12.04 


1910, 12.18 


1904, 12.44 


1911, 12.67 



(4) The per cent of Congregational pastors in* 

stalled by the advice of a council was, in 

1857, .62 1906, .13 

1870, .41 1907, .13 

1880, .36 1908, .11 

1890, .30 1909, .11 

1900, .23 1910, .10 

1904, .20 1911, .10 

1905, .14 



APPENDIX VI 

The reported growth of Congregational churches in the ten 
following cities is — 
In Chicago 

Churches Membership Benev. Con. Popula. 

1880-1890 330% 128% 239% 118% 

1890-1900 69% 63% 60% less 54% 

1900-1912 7% 8% 25% less 35% 

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CONGREGATIONALISTS 



In Boston 

Churches 
1880-1890 11% 
1890-1900 6% 
1900-1912 7% less 


Membership 

21% 

9% 

23% 


Benev. Con. 

23% 
2% 
1% 


Popula. 

23% 
25% 
22% 


In Brooklyn 










1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


40% 
6% 
7% less 


28% 

9% 

23% 


186% 
16% 
22% 


42% 
44% 
50% 


In Cleveland 










1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


77% 
31% 
18% 


69% 

82% 
26% 


95% 
72% 
12% less 


63% 

46% 
38% 


In Minneapolis 








1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


225% 
40% 
44% 


231% 
44% 
48%, 


1,450% 
88% less 
68% 


251%, 
23% 
58% 


In Seattle 










1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


400% 

75% 
185% 


230% 
250% 
220% 


1,000% less 
119% 
240% 


20% 

88% 
248% 


In Los Angeles 








1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


600% 
85% 
27% 


1,108% 
103% 
125% 


2,640% 
136% 
626% 


350%, 
103% 
329% 


In Denver 










1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


400%, 
50% 
0% 


429% 
108% 
38% 


6,833%, 
81% less 
84% 


199% 

125% 
151% 


In Worcester 










1880-1890 
1890-1900 
1900-1912 


100% 

21% 
0% 


72% 
37% 
11% 


181% 
20% less 

74% 


45%, 
40% 
35% 


In New Haven 








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333 

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21% 
0% 
12% less 

L 


16% 
15% 
12% less 

80 ] 


51% 
18% 
45% less 


29% 
32% 
39%, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





017 524 781 6 



